Top Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar is “gutted” at his “unexpected” qualification round exit from the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, but promised to bounce back from the debacle.
Sreeshankar, who has been consistently jumping over 8m mark this season, was expected to at least qualify for the final round but form deserted him when it mattered the most on Wednesday.
He had a best jump of 7.74m in three attempts, his worst this season, to finish 12th in Group A qualification round and 22nd overall.
Gutted,disappointed and unexpected! But so is sport and so is life. No reasons or excuses ! But just matter of time i am gonna bounce back from this . Big shoutout to @AldrinJeswin for making to the finals. Let’s go boyyy????????????
????: @g_rajaraman pic.twitter.com/v5o8joHgwk
— Sreeshankar Murali (@SreeshankarM) August 24, 2023
The 24-year-old had achieved his personal best of 8.41m in Bhubaneswar in June and was entering the World Championships on the back of his silver-winning jump of 8.37m in the Asian Championships in July.
“Gutted, disappointed and unexpected! But so is sport and so is life. No reasons or excuses! But just matter of time I am going to bounce back from this. Big shoutout to @AldrinJeswin for making to the finals. Let’s go boyyy,” Sreeshankar tweeted.
Aldrin, who entered the showpiece as season leader with his 8.42m national record effort in March, qualified for his maiden World Championships finals with a best jump of 8m.
Sreeshankar is looking for redemption at the Zurich leg of the prestigious Diamond League Meeting series on August 31.“Zurich DL in one week!,” he added.
On June 9, he had become only the third Indian athlete — after Neeraj Chopra and former discus thrower Vikas Gowda — to finish in the top three in a Diamond League meeting in Paris.
He had earlier told PTI that he would be taking part in the Zurich Diamond League.
“After World Championships, there is Zurich leg of Diamond League which is the only one left before the DL finals in September. So, it (Zurich DL) will be important to try for a DL Final spot (top six of the DL season will compete),” he had said in July.
After Paris, Sreeshankar had finished fifth in the Lausanne Diamond League on June 30.
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The Zurich leg will also see the likes of Tokyo Olympics champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, 2022 World Championship gold winner Jianan Wang of China and bronze winner Simon Ehammer of Switzerland in action.
In men’s javelin throw, the organisers confirmed the entries of India’s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, 2022 World Championships gold winner Anderson Peters of Grenada, bronze medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic and Julian Weber of Germany.
But it remains to be seen whether Chopra will actually take part in Zurich, considering that the Budapest World Championships final is scheduled for August 27 night.
