Indian Open Jumps Competition 2024: Nayana James Leaps Personal Best 6.67m In Season Opener; Shaili Singh Finishes 2nd

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Long jumper Nayana James made a stunning start to her outdoor season as the 28-year-old Kerala athlete leapt a personal best of 6.67 metres at the Indian Open Jumps Competition 2024. The one-day event took place at the Anju Bobby George High Performance Centre in the outskirts of Bengaluru on Wednesday (March 20).

Nayana James pipped home favourite Shaili Singh to the gold medal as famed coach Robert Bobby George's disciple could only jump 6.40m on the day. Rajasthan's Susmita took the last spot on the podium with an attempt of 6.28m while no Olympic qualification mark was breached at the event.

Speaking to myKhel after her triumph, Nayana James said: "I am happy to start the outdoor season with my personal best, especially when the Olympics are later this year. I hope to qualify for Paris soon (qualification mark 6.86m)."

Her coach Pinto Mathew shed further light on her preparation saying that they came into the tournament only to prepare for the Federation Cup, which is their main objective as far as Paris Olympics qualification is concerned.

"The off-season went well and she competed in the Asian Indoor Championships as well (finished sixth with an attempt of 6.28m)," said Pinto. "But she exceeded expectations as 6.50m was something we thought of."

Nayana indeed was in good form on the day as her second-best attempt read 6.64m and 6.48m. Shaili Singh, meanwhile, made a decent start to her season with attempts of 6.35, 6.38, and 6.40 in her first four attempts.

In the men's long jump event, Muhammed Anees Yahiya expectedly took the top spot but failed to breach the 8m mark as he leapt a 7.94m as his best on the day. He also managed jumps of 7.92 and 7.75m. Aditya Kumar Singh took the second spot with an attempt of 7.78m while big names such as Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin skipped the event.

In the high jump events, Jesse Sandesh took the top spot with a best attempt of 2.20m while Kerala's Athira Somaraj won the women's event with an attempt of 1.76.

Abdullah Aboobacker, and Eldhose Paul take top spots in triple jump

Commonwealth Games medal duo Abdullah Aboobacker and Eldhose Paul dominated the men's triple jump final by taking the top two spots. None, however, came close to the Olympic qualification mark (17.22m) or breached the 17m mark.

Abookbacer won the gold medal with a jump of 16.76m while Paul was second with an attempt of 16.45m. Interestingly, Aboobacker fouled his final attempt but insisted on getting it measured out of curiosity. The measurement revealed it was a 17.07m jump while he crossed the jumping board by 0.3m.