Step in right direction for Sreeshankar

AS the evening settled down, the temperature dipped a bit, but the humidity was pretty high.

- CHANDRA PRABHU @Chennai

Every now and then the sea breeze would bring in comfort, but for one man in the stands, nothing could have calmed him. He seemed more tense than the athletes in the middle.

S Murali is not just long jump exponent M Sreeshankar's coach but also his father. He knew what challenges his ward had to endure in the last 650 days before starting to compete again last month. Sreeshankar seemed relaxed, but after each jump he seemed fidgety and at times, not even looking at the electronic board that displayed his jumps. They both knew that the event—National Interstate Senior Athletics Championships—Sreeshankar was taking a shot at was his last chance to seal a ticket at the World Athletics Championships, which is slated to be held next month in Tokyo.

The two had endured some challenging times not so long ago with Sreeshankar taking the longest break of his career so far due to injury and rehab. When the Kerala athlete returned to competitive action in Pune last month, he had crossed the 8-metre mark and on Sunday, he managed 8.06m.