India’s Triple Jumper and Asian Athletics Champion, Abdulla Aboobacker, the lone Indian representation in the Xiamen Diamond League 2024 in China, secured the 8th spot with his best effort of 16.33m.
This was the Indian triple jumper’s second competition of the year. He finished first at the Indian Open Jumps in Bengaluru back in March with a 16.76m mark. Aboobacker’s personal best is 17.19m back in 2022.
Aboobacker started off his Xiamen
campaign with a meagre 15.79m, which he improved to 16.30m in his second
effort.
Then, after a foul in his third attempt, he achieved his best mark of 16.33m in his fourth attempt.
Though his best attempt was nowhere close to
the winning and meet record jump of 17.51m by Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango clinched the second position with a 17.12m mark and China’s Su Wen bagged the third position with a 16.82m jump.
China’s Yaoqing Fang (16.73m), Yaming Zhu (16.55m), and France’s Jean-Marc Pontvianne (16.46m) registered the fourth, fifth, and sixth positions in the event
And with this, India’s triple jumpers struggle to touch the coveted 17-metre mark continues.
The Xiamen meet was the inaugural event of the 2024 Diamond League series, featuring 15 events ending with the Grand Finals scheduled in Brussels in September.
With Murali Sreeshankar injury, which forced him out of this year’s Olympics (in long jump), India’s chances in the jump category look dim for the time being. A list of Indian Athletes who have made it to Paris Olympics via the qualifying standards can be found here
Written By Naman
