Indian Athletics Thread ...

[jayakris]

Sreeshankar (still only 21 years old) qualifies for Tokyo, bettering his national record... At the 24th Federation Cup senior athletics championships in Patiala. 8.26m ... Not bad!!

This Sree from Kerala is no daridravasi!!



It seems a lesser-known 22 year old from TN, Dhanalakshmi, took the 100m sprint with a 11.39, beating Hima Das and Dutee Chand. That's good.

[Sin Hombre]

Not bad, that should put him in medal contention at the Asian Games. Assuming no spinach.

[jayakris]

I don't know if he is in medal contention, but he is young and improving, so maybe he has an 8.30+ in him.. Actually yes, medal contention for Asiad. Not Olympics. I don't think there is indication that he eats anything other than choru and kozhi (rice and chicken, Kerala style). Can never rule out pacha-cheera (green spinach) though .... Only Mugu may know!

[sameerph]

8.26 M is pretty good by world standards too. At last 2 world championships and at Rio olympics, it would have got him into 5th position. The bronze went at 8.32 and 8.34 at WC and 8.29 at Rio. So, this jump from Sreeshankar is not far behind.

Still, it may be too much too expect him to be in medal contention at this olympics. But, since he is 21, we can expect him to improve and be in medal contention at next olympics.

[jayakris]

^^ That makes sense. 8.30 is what I had in mind as the mark for medal consideration at Olympics. But certainly good for even Gold at Asiad.

[PKBasu]

8.26m is spectacular. It would have just missed the bronze at the Rio Olympics (2016) and would have won the silver at the London Olympics (2012). TC Yohannan's 8.07m was the mark we used to marvel at from the 1974 Asiad, which he failed to reproduce at the 1976 Olympics (which would have fetched him a medal). Definitely a medal contender for Tokyo if he can reproduce this form.

[Sin Hombre]

I was using his best and discounting by about 10cm for an expected performance (assuming no spinach, with spinach, the discount would likely be 50cm).

8.16 would have won him a silver at the last Asiad.

[prasen9]

Electronic measuring device I presume?

[jayakris]

Electronic measuring device I presume?

Probably not. Anyway, I think nobody has been using electronic measurements for long jump till very recently. I think it was only 3 or 4 years that even the world athletic meets started using electronic measurement.

[prasen9]

I do not want to spread conspiracy theories but in some meets with manual marking I have seen a bit of a, shall we say, kind markings from some nice officials especially for star sportsmen especially for home country/team. Of course, without affecting the order of players in the sense that if they are a bit lenient with some athlete in R3, and another is close to the mark in R4, they are similarly lenient so as not to affect the rank order adversely. But, all this is in local and national junior events. Anyway, in this case, I have no proof at all. And, any leniency in marking is perhaps not going to make a 10cm difference. So, ignore the conspiracy theory.

All I am saying is that controversy and long jump go hand in hand at times. Jump ... goes horribly wrong Of course, we are not ... Italian.

[jayakris]

And, any leniency in marking is perhaps not going to make a 10cm difference.

This is what I was thinking too. I can understand 3 or 4 cm, but probably not 10 cm. This must have been a pretty damn good jump by the guy, as he beat his own record by 6 cm. He is clearly capable of a jump in the 8.20-8.25 range. Add even 4 or 5 cm, and he could well get a medal at Olympics.

Anyway, he is the first Indian to cross 27 feet. That's a lot.

[sameerph]

This is an an article on him -

Sreeshankar Murali books Tokyo berth with a big jump, silences naysayers

He is only coached by his father and seems quite realistic about the expections in Tokyo-

Despite the huge jump, the father-son duo was quick to brush off talks of a big result in Tokyo. Tuesday’s result was just a huge weight off their shoulders. They know they are still miles away from the top stars on the global stage. Father Murali says his son would be ultimately aiming for a podium spot at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

[sameerph]

Apart from Sreeshankar and Dhanalakshmi ( who Jay posted about above) there have been few more encouraging peformances so far in this Federation cup.

In womens javelin, Anu Rani broke her own national record with a throw of 63.24M. Olympic qualfication mark is 64M. She has been consistently throwing above 62 meters and improving. So, she can qualify shortly.

Another good performance was in womens 1500M by Harmilan Bains. She clocked 4.08.70 which is the fastest metric mile by an Indian women on home soil and second fastest ever by an Indian women after Sunita Rani who had won an Asian games gold. This effort by Harmilan will surely get her into Asian games medal prospect category. Only African imports appearing from Baharain have run faster than this in recent times in Asia.

Her father, Amandeep Bains has won medals at South Asian Games and her mother, Madhuri Singh, won a silver for India in the 2002 Asian Games at Busan, South Korea.

It looks Harmilan has quite a few followers on Instagram where she has profile by nickname " the queen "

https://www.instagram.com/the_.queeen_/?hl=en

[sameerph]

Another national record today in mens 3000M steeplchase by Avinash Sable- 8.20.20 bettering his own record. And he ran almost all alone towards the end. So, he can improve on this a lot. Can probably aim for top 8 finish or something at Tokyo.

[arjun2761]

Both Neeraj and Sreeshankar are turning in world class performances.

Neeraj's throws this year would be #2 in the 2020 list and #6 in 2019 list (and of course he has the 2 top throws in the early part of this year). At this stage, he appears a medal contender this year.

Likewise, Sreeshankar's mark of 8.26 would be #6 in 2020 and in the top 10 in 2019. AT this stage, he is a long shot at a medal this year but certainly a good medal prospect for 2024.

Avinash Sable's mark would be around top 25 in the 2019 list but given that many in the top would be from the same set of countries, he could have a shot at a top 10 Olympic place but likely no chance of a medal.