ATHLETICS | Long jumper Sreeshankar to skip Asian C’ships, to open season in July

Long jumper M. Sreeshankar to miss Asian Athletics Championships due to injury, focusing on World Championships in Tokyo.

KOCHI

Long jumper M. Sreeshankar, the Commonwealth and Asian Games silver medallist, will miss the Asian Athletics Championships set to begin in the South Korean city of Gumi on May 27.

Sreeshankar was forced to miss last year’s Paris Olympics with a knee injury — he underwent surgery for that in Qatar — and now after missing a full year, he is planning his return to competition carefully.

“I’m fully fit, just started my jump training….it will take some time,” Sreeshankar, the Asian Championship silver medallist, told The Hindu on Saturday evening from Palakkad.

“I’ll be opening my competition season only in July and most probably, it could be in Europe or in one of the Indian Open meets in India.

“I’m not focusing on the Asian Championships this time, my goal is to get ready for the World Championships (in Tokyo, September 13 to 21).”

Sreeshankar — No. 2 in the world long jump performance list with 8.41m in early 2023 — will thus miss the National Federation Senior Championships (earlier known as the Federation Cup) which begin at the Maharaja’s Stadium in Kochi on Monday.