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2 min readApr 5, 2026 12:46 AM IST
Asian Games and Commonwealth Games silver medalist Murali Sreeshankar in action. (PHOTO: Sreeshankar M via X)
Competing for the first time in the season, Murali Sreeshankar leapt a creditable 8.15m to win the men’s long jump event at the opening Indian Athletics Series here on Saturday.
Sreeshankar, representing NCOE Trivandrum, got his winning jump in his fourth attempt, his best performance since making a comeback after a knee surgery in 2024. His best of last season was 8.13m.
The 27-year-old had missed the 2024 Paris Olympics due to a surgery on his injured knee. He also took part in the Tokyo World Championships in September last year but failed to qualify for the final round.
On the Kanteerava Stadium jumping pit, Sreeshankar was the only athlete in the field to breach the 8m mark. Sunny Kumar of Bihar finished second with 7.90m, while Purushotham of Karnataka was third with 7.87m.
The women’s long event saw tough competition with Ancy Sojan, representing Reliance, winning the title with 6.54m effort while Shaili Singh of Anju Bobby George Sports Foundation finished second with 6.52m. Moumita Mondal, also of Reliance, secured the third place with 6.37m.
Tamil Nadu pole vaulter Reagan Ganesh continued his impressive form in the season with a personal best effort of 5.35m to win the event. He had cleared 5.30m at the inaugural National Indoor Championships in Bhubaneswar last month.
In Bhubaneswar, he had actually attempted to better Dev Meena’s national record of 5.40m but could not succeed.
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Meanwhile, Tamil Arasu, representing Railways, clinched the 100m title with a solid run of 10.23 seconds. Tamil Nadu’s Giridharani Ravi Kumar, meanwhile, won the women’s 100m race with a time of 11.53 seconds.
Maharashtra’s Sarvesh Kushare, who had become the first Indian high jumper to reach the finals of the World Championships last year, took the title by clearing 2.23m.
Aadarsh Ram of Tamil Nadu was second with identical 2.23m while Jesse Sandesh of Karnataka took the third sport with 2.10m.
In the men’s 200m race, the top three finishers went sub-21 seconds with Jishnu Prasad of BSF winning in 20.76 seconds.
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NCOE Trivandrum’s Vishal TK, the 400m national record holder, was second with a time of 20.80 seconds while Railways’ Tamil Arasu was third after clocking 20.83 seconds.
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