World championships: A day to forget
Eugene (USA), July 17
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar failed to live up to the expectations as he finished seventh in the finals with a best effort of 7.96 metres on Day 2 of the World Athletics Championships here.
Having become the first Indian man to qualify for the long jump finals in the World Championships, Sreeshankar had raised hopes of a historic medal. But his performance in the final was way below his personal best of 8.36m, achieved earlier this year.
China’s Jianan Wang won the gold with a sensational final round jump of 8.36m. Greece’s Olympics champion Miltiadis Tentoglou, who was leading till the penultimate round, won the silver with a best effort of 8.30m. Season leader Simon Ehammer (8.16m) of Switzerland took the bronze.
Sreeshankar had three legal jumps — the opening jump of 7.96m, fourth round effort of 7.89m and the last attempt of 7.83m. The other three tries were fouls.
The 23-year-old came into the event having jumped 8.17m, 8.36m, 8.31m and 8.23m since March. He had qualified for the finals with a best jump of 8m.
“Sreeshankar was confident to do well today but it was sheer bad luck,” Sreeshankar’s father and coach S Murali said. “Jumping more than 8.16m was within his reach and he has done many times this season,” he added.
“The third jump turned out to be a foul by just 3mm, and had it been a legal one, Sreeshankar would have crossed at least 8.16m and won a medal. But we have to look ahead with this World Championships experience and do well in the Commonwealth Games,” he added.
Personal best
In the women’s 3000m steeplechase event, Parul Chaudhary ran her personal best of 9 minutes, 38.09 seconds to finish 12th in the second heat. She missed out on the finals after finishing 31st overall.
Chaudhary’s pervious personal best was 9:38.29, clocked during the Indian Grand Prix series in Thiruvanthapuram in March.
In the men’s 400m hurdles, Madari Palliyalil Jabir failed to advance to the semifinals after finishing seventh and last in the second heat in a time of 50.76 seconds. He finished 31st overall across five heats.
He had recorded a season’s best of 49.76s while winning gold at the National Inter-State Championships last month. His personal best is 49.13s.
