Murali Sreeshankar Finishes Seventh in Long Jump Final At World Championships With An Effort of 7.96m

India's Murali Sreeshankar finished seventh in a 12-athlete field in the men's long jump final at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday. His best effort was a 7.96m jump which came in his first attempt. HIs other successful attempts were of 7.89m and 7.83m. The 23-year-old from Palakkad, Kerala, led the field after his first attempt of 7.96m but could not hold on to his position at the mega-event in Oregon, USA as other athletes came up with better efforts. China's Jianan Wang took home the gold medal with an effort of 8.36m, which came in his last attempt. Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou won the silver medal with an effort of 8.32m while Switzerland's Simon Ehammer (8.16m) won the bronze medal.

Sreeshankar, who earlier became the first Indian male long-jumper to enter the final at the World Championships with an effort of 8m in the qualification round, is also the national record holder in the discipline. He set the record with an 8.36m effort during the Federation Cup in April.

Anju Bobby George was the first Indian long jumper to make it to the finals of the long jump event at World Championships. She won a bronze medal back in 2003 in Paris.

Promoted

In the qualification round, Murali had a best jump of 8m and finished second in qualification round Group B and seventh overall. Sreeshankar could not touch the automatic qualification mark of 8.15 m but made it to the finals nonetheless as one of the twelve best performers. Only Japan's Yuki Hashioka (8.18 m) and USA's Marquis Dendy (8.16 m) could cross the 8.15 mark in the qualification round.

The other two Indians in the fray - Jeswin Aldrin and Muhammed Anees Yahiya - failed to qualify for the final. They finished at ninth and 11th in the Group A qualification