Nagoya, September 27, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
India’s Murali Sreeshankar and David Patturaj qualified for the men’s long jump final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday, keeping India’s medal hopes alive in the event.
Sreeshankar, the Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist, produced a best effort of 7.84 metres to finish second in Group B, while Patturaj recorded 7.62m to place third in Group A. The 12 finalists will compete at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium on Monday.
In the overall qualification standings, Sreeshankar finished second and Patturaj seventh. The automatic qualifying mark was 7.90m, but only Uzbekistan’s Anvar Anvarov crossed the distance, registering 8.00m. The remaining 11 finalists advanced based on their qualification performances.
Sreeshankar will be aiming to add another Asian Games medal after taking silver in Hangzhou. His qualification comes after a major comeback from a patellar tendon rupture suffered in April 2024, an injury that forced him to miss the Paris Olympics.
The Indian returned to competition after nearly 650 days at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in 2026 and subsequently won a silver medal for India at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.
There was further progress for India in athletics as Vithya Ramraj and Anu Raghavan qualified for the women’s 400m hurdles final.
Vithya finished second in her heat in 55.73 seconds, while Raghavan clocked a personal best of 55.84 seconds. The final will be held on Monday.
In the decathlon, India’s Tejaswin Shankar slipped to third after seven events. He has accumulated 5,869 points with three events remaining, trailing leader Chen Xinghua by 50 points and Japan’s second-placed Yuma Maruyama by 45.
India’s challenge in Kurash also suffered a setback, with Vishal losing his men’s +90kg quarterfinal to Thailand’s Kunathip Yea-On by 5-0.
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