M Sreeshankar’s qualification for the World Championship final is a big leap for India

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23-year-old long-jumper M Sreeshankar, who was unable to reach the finals of the 2019 World Championships in Doha, and the Tokyo Olympics, has successfully qualified for the World Championship in Oregon, with a best attempt of 8m. In doing so, he has become the first Indian to qualify for the event. According to former national record holder Ankit Sharma, whose career best was 8.19m, while the 8m barrier was once a big hurdle, it is impressive that India now has three jumpers who can breach that limit. Furthermore, he compared Sreeshankar with Neeraj Chopra, whose work ethic and discipline are well-known, and attributed some of his athletic ability to the genes inherited from his parents.

Sreeshankar has worked hard at improving his performance, following his inability to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics final, and won the gold medal at the CWG following an 8.21m jump. In this regard, he has been helped by Robert Bobby George, who had previously coached Anju Bobby George, who won India’s sole athletics medal at the World Championships. According to Bobby, he asked Sreeshankar to modify his technique, and substitute the hang technique with the hitch kick. While this required persuasion, Sreeshankar was finally able to cross the 8m mark on heeding the advice. Booby is now looking to coach him further in his journey.