Kerala CM Vijayan congratulates Sreeshankar on winning medal at CWG

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday congratulated Murali Sreeshankar, who won a silver medal in the men's long jump event at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Vijayan said Sreeshankar made Kerala and Indian proud and added that he was an inspiration.

"Congratulations to M Sreeshankar on winning silver in the long jump at #CWG2022. He has made Kerala and India proud by winning our first-ever medal in this event. His trailblazing leap will inspire many youngsters. Wishing him continued success," Vijayan tweeted.

The 23-year-old national record holder soared to 8.08m in his fifth attempt to finish second behind Laquan Nairn of Bahamas in a nerve-wrecking men's long jump final on Thursday.

Nairn also had a best jump of 8.08m but his second best of 7.98m was better than 7.84m of Sreeshankar. Under rules, if two jumpers are tied on the same distance, the one who has a better second best effort will be ranked ahead.

This was India's second medal in athletics at the Commonwealth Games this time. On Wednesday, Tejaswin Shankar had won a bronze in men's high jump to open India's medal account in athletics in this CWG.

Sreeshankar's became the first Indian male long jumper to win a silver at the CWG. Suresh Babu had won a bronze in the 1978 edition.

Sreeshankar had gone into CWG as gold medal favourite on the basis of his season's and personal best of 8.36m, which had put him in joint second ranking in the world this season.