CWG 2022, Athletics: Murali Sreeshankar wins silver medal in men’s long jump, Yahiya comes 5th

Murali Sreeshankar became the second Indian in athletics to medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022, winning silver in the men’s long jump event late on Thursday night in Birmingham.

The 23-year-old however, jumped the exact same distance as the eventual gold medal winner, but finished in second because of a shorter second-best jump.

CWG 2022, Day 7 blog

Sreeshankar jumped a distance of 8.08 metres on his fifth attempt, the same distance gold medal winner Laquan Nairn from Bahamas covered in his second attempt. But since there was a tie, Narin pipped the Indian since his second-best jump – on his sixth attempt – was 7.98m and Sreeshankar’s second best was 7.84.

South Africa’s Jovan van Vuuren came in third with a jump of 8.06m.

Meanwhile, Muhammed Anees Yahiya, the other Indian in the fray, finished fifth after a jump of 7.97m.

Sreeshankar’s medal was the joint-best by an Indian in the history of the Commonwealth Games after Prajusha Maliakkal won silver at New Delhi 2010 in the women’s event. Suresh Babu at Edmonton 1978 and Anju Bobby George at Manchester 2002 won bronze.

On Thursday, Sreeshankar’s medal was the second athletics accolade for India in as many days after high jumper Tejaswin Shankar became the first ever Indian in the discipline to win a medal – bronze – at the Commonwealth Games.