Birmingham: Long jumpers Murali Sreeshankar and Mohammad Anees Yahiya qualified for the final of the men’s long jump event after going past their respective qualifying rounds at the Commonwealth Games here.
Sreeshankar stormed into the final with his very first jump of 8.05m.
The 23-year-old from Kerala, one of the top Indian medal contenders, was the only athlete in his group to go past the qualifying mark of 8m.
The lanky youngster was ecstatic and rushed to his coach and the Indian audience soon after his jump.
Meanwhile, Yahiya also reached the final with jumps of 7.49m, 7.68m, and 7.49m in his three attempts.
While Yahiya was slow off the blocks, he improved his show from the second attempt and finished third in his group behind Guyana’s Emanuel Archibald and Australia’s Christopher Mitrevski.
