Maia (Portugal), July 20 (IANS) India’s long jumper Murali Sreeshankar won the the Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto 2025, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level meet, with a best jump of 7.75m.

Sreeshankar started with a jumo of 7.63m and recorded his best jump in the second round (7.75). He then registered 7.69m, followed by a foul attempt, 6.12m and rounded up with a jump of 7.58m.

Poland’s Piotr Tarkowski and Australia’s Chris Mitrevski finished second and third, respectively.

Sreeshankar was out of action for a long period of time after suffering a knee injury lasy year in April, which forced him to miss the Paris Olympics 2024. He had qualified for the Paris Olympics after recording an 8.37m jump on the way to winning silver at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships.

Sreeshankar had a mixed season in 2023. He won silver at the Asian Championships and the Asian Games. He also competed at the Budapest World Athletics Championships and qualified for the Diamond League Finals in Eugene.

Sreeshankar marked his return from a lengthy injury layoff in style by winning the long jump competition at the Indian Open Athletics 2025 meet in Pune on July 12. He logged his winning jump of 8.05m in his fourth attempt at the Savitribai Phule University Sports Complex.

The 26-year-old began with 7.84m and improved further to 7.99m before he breached the 8m mark. The World Athletics Championships 2025 qualification mark stands at 8.27m.

This was Murali Sreeshankar’s first competitive outing since winning a silver medal at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China, almost two years ago.

After a winning return from the injury, Sreeshankar is aiming for a World Championships later this year in Tokyo and eyeing next year’s Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

–IANS

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