Star Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar clinched the title with a leap of seven.75m on the Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto in Maia, Portugal, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze-level meet.
The Asian Games silver medallist registered his greatest effort in the second spherical on Saturday night time.
Sreeshankar opened with a 7.63m jump, adopted it up along with his successful leap of seven.75m in the second spherical, after which recorded a strong 7.69m. His third try was a foul, whereas his last two jumps have been measured at 6.12m and seven.58m.
Poland’s Piotr Tarkowski matched Sreeshankar’s 7.75m effort however his second greatest jump — 7.58m — was lower than the Indian’s 7.69m.
According to the World Athletics guidelines if two opponents tie, their second longest authorized jump is used as a tie-breaker.
The meet marks the 26-year-old’s second outing since coming back from a long harm layoff following knee surgical procedure. He had introduced his comeback with a strong 8.05m win on the Indian Open Athletics Meet earlier this month.
Sreeshankar will likely be aiming to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo in September for which the direct qualifying distance is 8.27m.
The Commonwealth Games silver medallist will likely be competing in Europe and Central Asia until August 14 for which the federal government has accepted ₹5.58 lakh.
In 2023, the Kerala athlete had change into solely the third Indian to complete in the highest three in a Diamond League Meeting — after Vikas Gowda and Neeraj Chopra — with a third-place end in Paris, however his Olympics hopes went up in smoke after an harm early in the 2024 season.
