Triple jumpers in spotlight at Open Jumps in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The two-day National Open Jump Competition, the first national-level track and field event in Bengaluru for the crucial 2026 season, will see the men's triple jump events take centre stage with all key names in long jump events missing.

Men's Triple jump national record holder Praveen Chithravel (17.37 metre) and 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Abdulla Aboobacker among others will compete in the absence of gold medallist Eldhose Paul, who is recuperating after a tricky knee surgery.

In long jump, key names such as Shaili Singh, Ancy Sojan, Jeswin Aldrin have already skipped the event and now star attraction M Sreeshankar has now also joined the list as the 26-year-old Kerala athlete pulled out at the last minute due to a viral fever.

The 2022 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games silver medallist took the decision on Friday and will now be aiming to compete in the Indian Athletic Series 1 in Bengaluru on April 4.

The bulk of the absentees are also expected to show up for the same event with their berths for the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games at stake. 

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) earlier made their intentions clear on selection policy, stating siff qualifying standards for July-August's CWG, where women's long jumpers will have to go better than the long-standing national record of 6.83 metres while men will have to jump 8.05m at least.

For September-October's Asiad, the qualification standards are lowered at 6.48 and 7.91 respectively.

It's also worth noting that the AFI also made it clear that taking part in May's Federation Cup (in Ranchi) and June's Inter-States (in Bhubaneswar) would be crucial in selection, while mandating participation in at least three other domestic events, including one state championship. 

That may explain the big list of participation in both men's and women's long jump events with 24 and 16 athletes respectively, including at least seven entrants from Karnataka. Arya S will be among the key local names as he will look to improve on his personal best of 7.89 from three seasons ago.

In the men's triple jump, Praveen and Abdulla (personal best 17.19) are expected to meet Asiad qualification mark of 16.28 without much fuss but may have to work hard to breach the CWG's standard of 16.89 this early in the season.

High jump will see key participants in Sarvesh Anil Kushare and Pooja with the former becoming the first Indian high jumper to reach the final of the World Championships while the latter won the gold at the Asian Championships. 

Meanwhile men's pole vault national record holder Dev Meena turns everyone's attention towards the event for the first time as he chases India's first medal at a major event.