Asian Games: Sreeshankar, Patturaj Solomon keep India in long jump medal hunt

Murali Sreeshankar and David Patturaj Solomon qualified for the men's long jump final at the Asian Games. Sreeshankar jumped 7.84m to finish second in his group, while Patturaj Solomon managed 7.62m. Both advanced to Monday's medal event in Nagoya

Nagoya: India’s Murali Sreeshankar and David Patturaj Solomon qualified for the men’s long jump final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after progressing from their respective qualification groups on Sunday.

The two Indian athletes were among the 12 long jumpers to advance to Monday’s final at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. Sreeshankar, the Hangzhou Games silver medallist, produced a best jump of 7.84m to finish second in Group B, while Patturaj Solomon was third in Group A with a best leap of 7.62m.

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In the overall qualification standings, Sreeshankar finished second and Patturaj Solomon seventh. The automatic qualification mark was 7.90m, but only Uzbekistan’s Anvar Anvarov crossed the mark with a jump of 8.00m. The remaining 11 athletes advanced on the basis of their qualification performances.

Sreeshankar will be aiming for a second successive Asian Games medal after winning silver in Hangzhou.

The 27-year-old made a comeback from a patellar tendon rupture suffered in April 2024 that ruled him out of the Paris Olympics. He returned to competition after nearly 650 days at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in June and has continued to show encouraging form.

He also won a silver medal for India at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.

Meanwhile, India’s Vithya Ramraj and Anu Raghavan qualified for the women’s 400m hurdles final.

Vithya finished second in her heat in 55.73 seconds, while Raghavan clocked a personal best of 55.84 seconds to progress. The final will be held on Monday.

In the decathlon, India’s Tejaswin Shankar slipped to third after seven events. He has 5,869 points, 50 behind leader Chen Xinghua of China and 45 behind Japan’s Yuma Maruyama, who is second.

In kurash, India’s Vishal bowed out in the men’s +90kg quarterfinals after losing 0-5 to Thailand’s Kunathip Yea-On.

The men’s long jump final is scheduled for Monday at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.