Murali Sreeshankar clinches long jump title at Qosanov Memorial 2025

NEW DELHI: Following his victory in the men’s long jump competition at the Qosanov Memorial 2025 athletics meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday, Murali Sreeshankar of India continued his winning streak to three as he made his comeback.

The 26-year-old Indian athlete made a winning leap of 7.94m on his opening attempt to secure the top spot at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze label (category C) meet, according to Olympics.com

#TOPScheme athlete Murali Sreeshankar continues his fine form post comeback, clinching 1st place in Men’s Long Jump at the XXXIV Qosanov Memorial with a best leap of 7.94m .

Super proud of you, champ! #IndianAthletics #GameOn #Sports@mansukhmandviya @khadseraksha… pic.twitter.com/fT2Ee2oRzr

— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 2, 2025

The runner-up was the Philippines’ Janry Ubas with 7.53 meters, followed by Azerbaijan’s Nazim Babayev with 7.48 meters. After suffering a knee injury in April previous year, this was Sreeshankar’s third athletics competition since his comeback.

Despite earning a quota for the previous year’s international extravaganza in France, he underwent surgery, which caused him to miss the Paris 2024 Olympics.Last month, Sreeshankar returned to the tracks by winning the Indian Open in Pune with an 8.05-meter jump. He then finished first at the Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto in Portugal with a 7.75-meter attempt.

Sreeshankar’s last international appearance before injury was a silver-medal finish at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China.

Sreeshankar is scheduled to compete across Europe and Central Asia until August 14, aiming to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo this September.

The men’s long jump qualification standard for Tokyo 2025 is set at 8.27 meters. (ANI)