BANGKOK: After overcoming uncertainties regarding his entry for the championship, M Sreeshankar came up with his season's best of 8.37m. It was an effort that was close to the Asian gold but then it was m ore than the Paris Olympics qualification mark of 8.27m.
"The biggest takeaway from this meet is that he has qualified for the Olympics," Sreeshankar' s father and coach Murali told TOI. "He doesn't have to worry about qualification anymore and can focus on getting better," he added. The coach felt Sreeshankar could have done better with the take-off. "Even in the big last jump he left a few on the board. Plus it came against a head wind of 1. 1m. It was a good field as the top-3 went past the 8m mark."
The qualification period for individual events, except for 10,000m, marathon, combined events and race walk, began on July 1 and will go on till June 30, 2024.
"I thought I had won it. I thought it was definitely above 8. 45m," Sreeshankar said of his Sourav Ganguly style celebration that saw the officials informing him that they will flash a yellow card if he doesn't put his T-shirt back. "I was confident as my warm-up jump was close to the 8. 50m mark. But today most of my jumps were from behind the board as I tried to play it safe, especially after the foul on my second jump," he added, expressing happiness over his Paris Olympics qualification.
Heptathlon silver winner Swapna Barman was not delighted with her performance. "It was nothing great but okay as I couldn't even train properly. Due to back pain, I couldn't do squats for two and a half months. But I think it's a decent show."
(THE WRITER IS IN BANGKOK AT THE INVITATION OF AAA)
