National Inter State Athletics 2024: Jumpers Face Uphill Battle for Paris Olympics Qualification

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Only a month remains until the much-awaited Paris Olympics and Indian jumpers are not performing at the required level. Only long jumper Murali Sreeshankar has qualified for Paris after breaching the qualification mark at the Asian Athletics Championships last year.

Unfortunately, he has had to rule himself out for the entire season, including the Paris 2024 Olympics, after sustaining a knee injury during training. Also Read: Indian Track and Field Athletes' Last Chance to Qualify for Paris 2024

There was a time when Indian triple jumpers did well at the Commonwealth Games 2022, with Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker winning gold and silver, and Praveen Chithravel finishing fourth. However, times have changed; none of the three jumpers have qualified for Paris, and their form has dipped in 2024.

In a press conference before the Inter-State Athletics Championships in Panchkula Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwalla spoke about the triple jumpers' performance. Sumariwala said, "In Triple jump, Aboobacker (Abdulla) is at 21 (ranking) and Praveen Chithravel is at 24 and 32 entries can be taken."

The 1980 Moscow Olympian Sumariwalla also said that the injury of Murali Sreeshankar was a big shock: "In the long jump, we sadly lost Sreeshankar to an injury, but he had directly qualified. The qualification was 8.27 meters. He has done 8.37 meters at the Asian Championships in Bangkok."

National record holder in men's long jump, Jeswin Aldrin, jumped 8.42 meters in the Indian Open last year. However, this performance came before the Olympic cycle started, and since then, his form has continuously dipped. He missed the World Championships in Budapest, and this year he has yet to achieve the 8-meter mark.

The Paris Olympics men's long jump qualification standard is 8.27m. "Jeswin Aldrin at the moment is 31 (ranking) and he is right on the border. So, Jeswin will have to jump well at the Inter-State to ensure he remains in the 32."

In the men's high jump National record holder Tejaswin Shankar is also competing at the Inter-State Athletics Championships, this will be 9 competitions and his season best so far is 2. 23 and he needs to jump well in Panchkula to qualify for Paris.

Speaking on the high jump qualification Adille said, "In men's High jump there are 32 entries and Sarvesh Kushare just outside, he is ranked 36 and Tejaswin Shankar is ranked at 38. So they will both have to jump well to qualify. So, they will have to really move up."

In the women's long jump, Shali Singh and Nayana James both jumped well in the Inter-State meet to qualify for the Paris Olympics. They are both performing well this year; Nayana James broke her personal best, while Shaili Singh has finished on the podium six times.

However, they both have yet to achieve the Paris Olympics qualification standard of 6.86 meters. "In women's Long jump there are 32 entries and the qualifying standard 6.86 m. Shaili is ranked at the moment 46 and Nayana James is at 68. So, these are some of the people that you should be looking for tomorrow and the next few days," Adille Sumariwalla signed off.

As the Inter-State Athletics Championships is the last Paris Olympics qualification competition, the athletes will give their all to qualify for the big event.