India’s star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar clinched his third straight title after coming back from a long injury lay-off, winning the gold medal at the Qosanov Memorial Athletics Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday. The 26-year-old Indian produced a winning leap of 7.94m on his opening attempt to secure the top spot at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze label (category C) meet.

His other efforts were 7.73m, 7.58m, 7.57m, 7.80m and 7.79m. Sreeshankar’s personal best is 8.41m, which he achieved at the National Inter-State Athletics Championship in Bhubaneshwar (2023). Sreeshankar, who injured his knee last April, had undergone surgery and consequently missed the 2024 Olympics despite qualifying for the global showpiece in the French capital.

His last two performances have included winning the Indian Open in Pune with a jump of 8.05m, and a 7.75m effort to top the podium at the Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto in Portugal, last month. Before the injury, Sreeshankar’s last international appearance was a silver-medal finish at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023. He is yet to qualify for the Tokyo World Championships in September, for which the men’s long jump qualification standard is 8.27m.