Athletics
Sreeshankar returns from injury layoff with IGP win; set to compete in Diamond League meets
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar revealed that he will be competing in Diamond League meets this season, on the sidelines of IGP 3.
Bengaluru: Commonwealth Games medallist long jumper Murali Sreeshankar returned to action after a long injury layoff, on Monday, with a gold medal winning effort at the 2023 Indian Grand Prix 3 at the Kanteerava Stadium here.
Competing for the first time since the National Games in October last year, Sreeshankar came up with a best leap of 7.94m in his last attempt.
The 24-year-old, who had sustained a Grade 2 hamstring injury, revealed that he was happy with how his return to the long jump pit turned out.
"I had to start the season a bit late due to the injury I picked up during the National Games, but the training and preparations have been going great," Sreeshankar told The Bridge on the sidelines of the meet.
"Today's performance was pretty much good. It did not come up to my expectations because of the wind. It (the wind) was like -2.8m/s; nullifying the effect of the wind it would have probably been a 8.20m jump. So, I am pretty happy with the effort," he added.
Sreeshankar will now head to Texas, United States of America for a training camp on Wednesday. This will be followed by a stint in Europe and a few Diamond League appearances.
"I will be flying to USA for a training camp day after tomorrow and will be spending some time there. From there we will head to Europe and will compete in some Diamond League meets too," the long jumper revealed his plans.
Amlan, Jyothi shine
In the other events of the day, Assam sprinter Amlan Borgohain and hurdler Jyothi Yarraji shone bright with their performances.
While the former pipped Odisha's Amiya Kumar Mallick in a highly anticipated 100m dash and followed it up with a win in men's 200m too, the latter took home the women's 100m hurdles title in her first domestic appearance of the season.
Aishwarya Mishra of Maharashtra became the third Indian woman 400m sprinter to clock a sub-54 seconds time twice this year. She won the event on Monday in 53.63 seconds, leaving Kiran Pahal of Haryana in her wake.
Muhammed Ajmal won the men's quarter-mile in 46.63 seconds, his best effort of the year and the third time he has gone below 47 seconds in 2023.
Hima Das, who had to endure a disqualification for a false start in the Indian Grand Prix 2 in Thiruvananthapuram, bounced back to win the women's 200m while GK Vijayakumari of Karnataka returned to a national-level 800m after five years and beat Madhya Pradesh's KM Deeksha with a surge over the last 100m.
(With PTI inputs)
