Praveen Chithravel jumps 16.92m to win triple jump title and qualify for Asian Games

Bhubaneswar: Praveen Chithravel continued his good run and finished on top of the podium in the men’s triple jump on the third day of the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Friday. After securing a Commonwealth Games spot earlier, Chithravel qualified for the Asian Games too with a best leap of 16.92m, which he achieved in his very first attempt. Karthik U and Selva Prabhu finished second and third respectively with leaps of 16.80m and 16.79m and also made the cut. Besides the trio, three others also achieved the qualifying mark, but only two more athletes can be selected for the Asian Games. Speaking after the performance, he said the aim was simply to qualify for the Asian Games and not push too much. “I didn’t expect too much right now. My focus is on the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games,” said Chithravel, who finished fourth at the last Commonwealth Games and won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. “For now, I’m happy with how things are progressing. I wanted to be careful with my ankle and avoid any injuries. At this stage, staying healthy is the most important thing, and so far, everything is on track.”

The national record holder, meanwhile, was more than happy with the performances of the two other medallists. “Karthik is 33 years old, but he’s always pushing himself, and I draw a lot of inspiration from him,” said Chithravel. “Abdulla Aboobacker and Prabhu are also performing well, which has helped raise the standard of jumping. Hopefully, Eldhose Paul will come back soon. We need him back, and when he returns, the competition will be even stronger.” As for his Cuban coach, Yoandri Betanzos, the focus is to help Chithravel go past the 17.40m mark at the Commonwealth Games, which would be a national record if he achieves it. “But for gold, he will need to jump 17.50m because Jamaica’s Jordan Scott has been jumping beyond that,” said the coach. To prepare for that, the plan is for Chithravel to compete in a meet in Spain next month. Besides the triple jumpers, the women’s discus throwers also impressed, with all three medallists from Haryana — Seema, Sanya Yadav and Nidhi — qualifying for the Asian Games.

Also making the cut were men’s hammer throwers Damneet Singh and Praveen Kumar with efforts of 69.72m and 69.58m respectively. Earlier in the evening, Tejas Shirse comfortably won the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.61s after the race finally got underway following three false starts. Meanwhile, to cap off the night, Odisha won the men’s 4x100m relay, Karnataka claimed the women’s 4x100m title, and Tamil Nadu took gold in the mixed 4x400m relay.