Murali Sreeshankar to skip Diamond League final, will focus on Asian Games

New Delhi [India], September 7 (ANI): Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will skip the next week’s Diamond League final scheduled in Eugene in order to focus on the Asian Games. 

The official handle of the Asian Games shared the information with the fans. 

“India’s long jumper M. Sreeshankar has decided to skip next week’s Diamond League Final in Eugene and focus on Hangzhou Asian Games. Sreeshankar is the first Indian long jumper to make the cut for Diamond League Final. #Hangzhou #AsianGames #TeamIndia #Sreeshankar #diamondleague2023 #HangzhouAsianGames@WorldAthletics @SreeshankarM @WeAreTeamIndia,” the Asian Games 2022 handle posted on ‘X’. 

Following his performances in Zurich Diamond League earlier in September, Sreeshankar had qualified for the Diamond League final scheduled in Eugene from September 16-17. 

Sreeshankar finished at number fifth in the men’s long jump competition with the best jump of 7.99 m. Staying in contention for a podium spot for more than half of the event, Sreeshankar could not match his performance with others and dipped down the ranks in the second half of the tournament.

Miltidias Tentoglou of Greece took home the gold with an 8.20 m jump, while Tamay Gayle bagged the second spot with his jump of 8.07 m. The third spot went to USA’s Lawson Jarrion with a jump of 8.05 m. 

Asian Games will take place in Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8. 

He is one of the 65 players who have qualified for the games in various disciplines of athletics. The list of players also features World Champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, Kishore Kumar Jena in men’s javelin throw, Tajinderpal Singh Toor in men’s shot put, Jeswin Aldrin in men’s long jump, Annu Rani in women’s javelin throw, Jyothi Yarraji in women’s 100m hurdles, women’s 200m etc.