World Championships helped me realise I could compete with the best, says triple jumper Eldhose Paul

Commonwealth Games, Eldhose has been living a dream. Enjoying all the adulation that he is receiving on his return to India, Eldhose took time out to speak to TOI on his life-changing experience and his future plans. Excerpts from the interview:Take us through your gold-winning leap in Birmingham?Abdulla Aboobacker and I train together. Our target was a 1-2 finish at the Commonwealth Games. I was determined not to put too much pressure on myself. I knew if I got my technique right, I could finish on top. And it was truly a great feeling when our dream came true.

You didn’t have your personal coach in Birmingham with you. So, did you and Aboobacker help each other out during training and competition?We always used to complement each other, both during training and competitions. Birmingham was no different. Both of us have been jumping in the same range. We always analyse each other’s jumps and point out the flaws and suggest methods to correct them. In CWG, Aboobacker suggested some changes to the runway after my initial jump. It helped me a lot. You became the first Indian triple jumper to qualify for the final in the World Athletics Championship. Did the 9th-place finish in Eugene act as a confidence-booster for CWG?Yes, it did. Eugene helped in proving to myself that I could compete with the best in the world. During competition, I could learn a lot just by observing the top triple jumpers during competition. Forget learning about their technique, even the way they warmed up was different. The ninth-place finish in my first big-ticket global athletics event was very satisfying. But more than that, Eugene Worlds was a huge learning experience for me.

So, you are keen to participate in more international competitions