Tokyo Olympics: Sreeshankar will bounce back, just like he did in 2018

Sreeshankar Murali's debut Olympic campaign ended rather disappointingly after he was knocked out from the men's long jump event in the qualification round at the Tokyo Olympics. The 22-year-old actually had a decent start when he jumped 7.69m in his first attempt. But that would be his best overall as he only managed to hit a 7.51m and 7.43m in his second and third attempts respectively. He eventually finished 13th in Group B and made an early exit from the Tokyo Olympics.

It was disappointing to see that despite a decent start, Sreeshankar never really made the improvements and his last two attempts were rather lacklustre.

However, if there's one thing that we should know about Sreeshankar is that when faced with adversity, he's not one of those to stay back down.

Back in 2018, Sreeshankar had to undergo appendicitis surgery just ten days before the start of the Commonwealth Games. Post the surgery, Sreeshankar was put on a completely liquid diet which led to him losing a lot of weight and at times he wasn't able to walk properly as well. It looked unlikely that Sreeshankar would participate in any major competitions in that year.

However, the youngster from Kerala surprised everyone when just two months later he participated in the 2018 Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Japan. The athlete did not have the strength, speed, or focus which is required to compete in such a tournament but still managed to win the bronze medal at the event.

The experience of the Tokyo Olympics would be immense for the athlete at the age of 22 and he has a lot of time on his side to develop further. Make no mistake, Sreeshankar Murali would come back stronger in the future.