<p>Bengaluru: India's triple jump national record holder Praveen Chithravel has been the key name in the event since breaching the national record almost three years ago.</p>.<p>The 24-year-old JSW athlete, who won the 2022 Asian Games bronze, has managed 17 metre-plus jumps every season and matched his personal best (17.37) early last year after joining hands with Cuban coach Yoandri Betanzos.</p>.<p>However, what followed next was a sharp dip as the Tamil Nadu-born athlete failed to breach the 17m-mark for the rest of the season, including a pale exit in the qualification round of World Championships in Tokyo.</p>.<p>The year, too, he has been off to a slow start with a season best is 16.78 (came at the Indian Open Jumps competition) after featuring in two events.</p>.<p>Coach Yoandri, a two-time World Championships silver medallist and who had a personal best of 17.65, revealed that a recurring left ankle injury hindered Praveen's progress last season and that's the reason why he wants to move away triple jump.</p>.<p>"His ankle injury has really made his progress difficult," the 44-year-old coach told DH. "That's why he is planning to switch to long jump next season as he believes he can have a longer career there."</p>.Shaili Singh, Ancy Sojan to skip Indian Open Jump in Bengaluru.<p>It's hard to blame the Indian for considering the step as triple jump is perptually considered injury-prone due to its extreme and repetitive impact forces on knees, thighs and ankle. </p><p>Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Eldhose Paul has faced the brunt of it as the 29-year-old Kerala athlete went under the knife thrice on a complex knee injury since Paris Olympics and is now racing against time to be fit and qualify to defend his title.</p>.<p>For Praveen, long jump isn't an unknown event as he started off as long jumper before switching to triple jump. He featured in long jump last season too, managing a personal best of 7.86 metre in Spain last season and confirmed that he would compete in the same at the upcoming and inaugural National Indoor Championships in Bhubaneswar.</p>.<p>While the national record for its outdoor event stands at 8.42m (by Jeswin Aldrin), Yoandri stated that Praveen managed an encouraging 8.16 jump in training already. However, he added that triple jump remains the focus for the season as they want to sign off on a high at the CWG and Asiad.</p>.<p>"I always tell him that technique and strength wise, he is a better triple jumper than I was. But it's the consistency we need to find, which is by doing 17m-plus regularly. Once we crack that, we can achieve all our goals for the season," said the coach.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: India's triple jump national record holder Praveen Chithravel has been the key name in the event since breaching the national record almost three years ago.</p>.<p>The 24-year-old JSW athlete, who won the 2022 Asian Games bronze, has managed 17 metre-plus jumps every season and matched his personal best (17.37) early last year after joining hands with Cuban coach Yoandri Betanzos.</p>.<p>However, what followed next was a sharp dip as the Tamil Nadu-born athlete failed to breach the 17m-mark for the rest of the season, including a pale exit in the qualification round of World Championships in Tokyo.</p>.<p>The year, too, he has been off to a slow start with a season best is 16.78 (came at the Indian Open Jumps competition) after featuring in two events.</p>.<p>Coach Yoandri, a two-time World Championships silver medallist and who had a personal best of 17.65, revealed that a recurring left ankle injury hindered Praveen's progress last season and that's the reason why he wants to move away triple jump.</p>.<p>"His ankle injury has really made his progress difficult," the 44-year-old coach told DH. "That's why he is planning to switch to long jump next season as he believes he can have a longer career there."</p>.Shaili Singh, Ancy Sojan to skip Indian Open Jump in Bengaluru.<p>It's hard to blame the Indian for considering the step as triple jump is perptually considered injury-prone due to its extreme and repetitive impact forces on knees, thighs and ankle. </p><p>Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Eldhose Paul has faced the brunt of it as the 29-year-old Kerala athlete went under the knife thrice on a complex knee injury since Paris Olympics and is now racing against time to be fit and qualify to defend his title.</p>.<p>For Praveen, long jump isn't an unknown event as he started off as long jumper before switching to triple jump. He featured in long jump last season too, managing a personal best of 7.86 metre in Spain last season and confirmed that he would compete in the same at the upcoming and inaugural National Indoor Championships in Bhubaneswar.</p>.<p>While the national record for its outdoor event stands at 8.42m (by Jeswin Aldrin), Yoandri stated that Praveen managed an encouraging 8.16 jump in training already. However, he added that triple jump remains the focus for the season as they want to sign off on a high at the CWG and Asiad.</p>.<p>"I always tell him that technique and strength wise, he is a better triple jumper than I was. But it's the consistency we need to find, which is by doing 17m-plus regularly. Once we crack that, we can achieve all our goals for the season," said the coach.</p>