"Adapting to 15-hour time zone ahead of Asian Games will be a tricky issue" - Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar’s father

With three weeks to go for the track and field competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games in China, India’s 24 years old Asian silver medallist in men’s long jump Murali Sreeshankar has slightly tweaked his plans.

“He (Sreeshankar) will not compete in Diamond League Final scheduled to be held in Eugene on September 16 and 17 as adapting to different time zone between the USA and China will be a tricky issue,” Sreeshankar’s father S Murali told Sportskeeda over the phone from Palakkad in Kerala.

According to Sreeshankar’s father who is also his personal coach, since the men’s long jump qualification in China is scheduled for September 29, the gap between the Diamond League Final and Asian Games is too less.

“We don’t want to take a risk as the time zone difference between Hangzhou and Eugene is 15 hours,” the father-cum-coach added. “Therefore, the focus is on the Asian Games and not the Diamond League Final.”

Sreeshankar was one of the elite Indian athletes who competed at the recently concluded Budapest World Athletics Championships.

In the weeks building up to the Worlds, Sreeshankar had two big back to back jumps raising hopes of a good show in Budapest.

At the June 15 to 19 National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, he soared high in the qualification round to record an 8.41m jump. Sreeshankar went on to win the gold medal, while his arch rival Jeswin Aldrin settled for silver.

At the July 12 to 16 Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok, the Indian long jumper won silver with a best jump of 8.37m, which was better than the Paris Olympic Games qualification mark of 8.27m.

However, things didn’t go as planned in the Hungarian city despite having extensive international exposure. Sreeshankar wasn’t impressive during the qualification at the Worlds. He wasn’t among the top 12 athletes who made it to the medal round. Speaking to the press, his father provided an update:

Sreeshankar is back home in Kerala and has started his preparation for the Asian Games. “We will board a flight to China on September 26,” the father added.