Eyes on Shaili Singh as jumpers get ready for Indian Open Jumps

Long jump prodigy Shaili Singh will be in the spotlight as the Indian Open Jumps competition begins in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Apart from Shaili, triple jumpers Abdulla Aboobacker, Karthik Unnikrishnan, and Eldhose Paul will be in action

With the Paris Olympics lined up in July-August, the world U-20 silver medallist in women's long jump has specific goals set this year.

"It is too early to expect outstanding performance but we are hoping for a good result, otherwise it will be a challenging task to earn a ticket to Diamond League competitions," Shaili's coach, Robert Bobby George, said on the eve of the one-day domestic competition.

According to the national long jump coach, the first domestic competition in Bengaluru will be all about evaluation of performance and how to move forward in the right direction to win a ticket to the Paris Olympics.

"We have set specific goals for each competition for Shaili Singh," the long jump coach said.

Shaili has a personal best of 6.76m recorded last year in April in Bengaluru. She finished fifth at the Hangzhou Asian Games with a jump of 6.48m. The women's long jump event in Bengaluru has attracted nine competitors including Nayana James of Kerala.

In the men's long jump, Muhammad Anees Yahiya will be in action as Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin will skip the event after achieving the Paris qualification mark last year.

Promising Tamil Nadu triple jumper Selva Prabhu will compete in the U20 age group. His personal best and national record of 16.78m was recorded last year.