Long jumper Sreeshankar qualifies for Tokyo Olympics

Long jumper Murli Sreeshankar qualified for the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday after bettering his own National record with a leap of 8.26 metres on the second day of the Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships, in Patiala.

The Olympics qualification mark in men's long jump is 8.22 metres.

The 21-year-old Kerala athlete's 8.26 metres jump came in his fifth attempt, as he improved upon his earlier National record of 8.20 metres, which he registered in 2018.

He began with a 8.02m jump before improving to 8.04m, 8.07m and 8.09m in his next three efforts. He touched 8.26 metres in his fifth attempt and had a 'no mark (NM)' in his final jump.

 Muhammed Anees Yahiya, another Kerala jumper (8 metres), and Karnataka's S Lokesh (7.60 metres) took the silver and bronze medal respectively.

Five race walkers (K T Irfan, Sandeep Kumar and Rahul Rohilla, in the men's 20km event, and Bhawana Jat and Priyanka Goswami, in the women's 20km event), two javelin throwers (Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh), Avinash Sable (men's 3000m steeplechase) and the mixed 4x400 metres relay team had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics earlier.