Sreeshankar shatters national record in long jump for season's world leading mark in U-20

Sreeshankar Murali of Kerala shattered the men's long jump national record with a big jump of 8.20m on way to winning the gold at the National Open Athletics Championships here on Thursday.

The 19-year-old bettered the earlier national record of 8.19m which was in the name of Ankit Sharma made in Almaty in 2016. He came up with 8.20m in his fifth and penultimate jump.

He also had a jump of 8.11m in his third attempt, which was also better than his previous personal best of 7.99m.

His 8.20m jump is the world leading jump of the season among Under-20 athletes, bettering Cuban Maikel Yorges Vidal's 8.12m effort in June.

Sreeshankar was selected in the Indian team for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games but just days before the big event he underwent an appendix surgery. In the recent Asian Games in Indonesia, he had finished sixth with a best jump of 7.95m in the final.

Sreeshankar begun the competition strongly, clearing a distance of 7.95m in his very first jump. After fouling his second