New Delhi: Murali Sreeshankar eased into the long jump final on Monday, sealing his spot with a solitary jump to achieve the 8m cut-off with ease. The experienced jumper cleared 8.01m in his first and only attempt to advance to the final, which will be held at Scotstoun Stadium on Wednesday.
India will also be represented by Lokesh Sathyanathan in the 12-man medal round. Competing in his first Commonwealth Games (CWG), the 26-year-old NCAA athlete leapt 7.77m in his opening try and fouled his next two. His lone legal jump, however, was enough to take him to the final.
Sathyanathan’s jump was fourth best in his lot, topped by 2019 world champion Tajay Gayle. The Jamaican logged a best of 8.10m after warming up with jumps of 7.74m and 7.40m. Saint Vincent’s Uroy Ryan (8.04m) and Regan Corrin, representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland (7.84m) also finished ahead of Sathyanathan in Group B.
There was no catching Sreeshankar in Group A though. The 27-year-old was the only athlete to earn direct qualification from his group while five others made the finals as top-12 best performers.
A silver medallist at the 2022 edition of Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham, Sreeshankar will aim to go a step further in Glasgow. With a season’s best of 8.38m achieved last month at the Inter-State Championship in Bhubaneswar, Sreeshankar enters the final in fine form, also evidenced by five consecutive wins leading into the Games.
“Qualification went quite well, it was tricky conditions for everyone. It was cold and windy and it was raining also in between but I qualified in the first attempt, so very excited for the final,” Sreeshankar told PTI.
The weather is expected to be cold on Wednesday as well, with temperatures around 18°C and a 40 percent possibility of light showers throughout the day. The Indian athletics contingent had camped in Spala, Poland before coming to Glasgow to acclamaitise to the cold and wet conditions.
“At big events such as the CWG or Asian Games, distance alone doesn’t matter too much,” Sreeshankar had told HT before leaving for Europe. “You should be able to adapt to the conditions and pressure. UK is usually cold and wet, so long jump is unlikely to produce big jumps. In such a scenario, you should be able to execute your technique well.”
Having made a competitive return last year from a career-threatening knee injury — a ruptured patellar tendon — for which he underwent surgery two years back, Sreeshankar’s resilience and preparation will be put to test on Wednesday.
Shirse in final
National record holder in 110m hurdles, Tejas Shirse, also qualified for the final. Running in Lane 7 in Heat 1, Shirse clocked 13.76s to finish third, behind England’s Samuel Bennett (13.20s) and Jamaica’s Jerome Campbell (13.33s). Top three from both heats and the next two fastest runners advanced to the eight-man final that will be run late on Monday night (IST).
Overall, Shirse’s qualification time put him seventh among eight finalists and was also his slowest race of the season. The 24-year-old Indian with a personal best and NR of 13.27s that he ran last month in Ludhiana, will look to course correct.
Despite being a force to reckon with at home, Shirse is yet to perform at the international stage. He had missed the 2023 editions of Asian Championships and Asian Games, Paris Olympics in 2024, and the World Indoors and Asian Championships in 2025. His 2025 World Championships qualification happened at the last moment when he entered in the 40th place – the last available slot – on rankings, after Cyprus’ Milan Trajkovic and Australia’s Tayleb Willis pulled out. He couldn’t advance beyond heats at the Worlds, clocking 13.57s.
Shirse then injured his right ankle by the end of 2025, which put him out of action for four months. He has competed extensively since his return, but while he has remained unbeaten at home, he still awaits an international success of note.
“I don’t consciously chase a time,” Shirse had told HT before leaving for CWG. “The idea is to run a technically good race. I want to become a good, wholesome athlete and not someone who can run fast occasionally.”
