Murali Sreeshankar eyes CWG and World Championship medal after success in Greece
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Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar has been in sensational form this year, as he won the gold medal at the 12th International Jumping Meeting in Greece recently with a leap of 8.31m. Now the youngster is eyeing a podium finish at the Commonwealth Games and the World Championship as well.
"The main aim now is the Commonwealth Games and World Championships. And now with this jump, I can feel that I will be able to bring a medal in both these events," Sreeshankar told The Bridge. It was only last month that he set a new national record at the Federation Cup last month with a jump of 8.36m and qualified for the World Championship.Â
But despite this effort, he admitted, that he took some time to get into a rhythm, due to untimely rains back home. "The first two jumps, I did not have the rhythm. The third jump was better, the fourth attempt again the rhythm was the problem. The last two jumps I felt better. It was all about the rhythm today. I was struggling a bit because I could not do any full-approach jumping sessions before coming to Greece. Rain was really affecting our training back at home. It is very unlikely to have rain in mid-May and that did affect my training sessions," he stated.
The competition in Greece boasted some of the best jumpers in the world like World Indoor Championships medallists Miltos Tentoglou, Thobias Montler, and Junior World Champion Erwan Konate. While Montler won silver with a best of 8.27m, Pommery finished third with 8.17m. "It was a great experience competing with the likes of Montler, Pommery, Erwan - they are all great jumpers. It was great to compete with these guys with such an electrifying atmosphere during the competitions, where we were all egging each other to do better," he said.
