Long jumper Sreeshankar qualifies for 2024 Olympics after winning silver medal at Asian meet

Murali Sreeshankar wins silver in Asian Athletics Championships, qualifies for 2024 Paris Olympics. Santhosh Kumar wins bronze in 400m hurdles, fastest time by Indian this year. Yashas Palaksha also qualifies for final. No Indian has won gold in men's 400m hurdles in Asian Championships.

Star Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar on July 15 qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics after winning a silver medal in the Asian Athletics Championships with a second career-best effort of 8.37m in Bangkok.

The 24-year-old Sreeshankar achieved the Olympic qualification with his final round jump of 8.37m. The Paris Games mark is 8.27m and the qualification period began on July 1.

Yu Tang Lin of Chinese Taipei won the gold with a fourth round jump of 8.40m, which is the third best effort in the world this season.

Sreeshankar has already qualified for the Budapest World Championships in August with his career-best and world second-ranked jump of 8.41m during the qualification round of the National Inter-State Championships last month.

Earier, Santhosh Kumar won bronze medal in men’s 400m hurdles with a personal best time of 49.09 seconds on the fourth and penultimate day of competitions.

Santhosh clocked the fastest time by an Indian in men’s 400m hurdles this year when he finished behind gold medal winner Mohammed Hemeida Bassem (48.64 seconds) of Qatar and Yusaku Kodama (48.96) of Japan.

The 25-year-old's previous best was 49.49 which he had clocked last year.