NEW DELHI: The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Friday cleared long jumper Sreeshankar Murali for travel to the Olympics but with a rider — the athlete would have to come up with a similar performance in Tokyo like the one while qualifying for the mega event. Else, his coach would be suspended.
Sreeshankar had come under the AFI scnaner after his below par performance in the fitness trial in Bengaluru on Wednesday where his best jump of 7.48m was more than two feet shorter than the 8.26 effort that earned him a Games berth in March.
Race walker KT Irfan, who too struggled in the fitness trial, was also allowed to travel with the same condition. Irfan was India’s first track and field athlete to qualify for the Olympics when he clocked 1 hour 20 minutes and 57 seconds in the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan in 2019.
“The selectors were disappointed with their performance in the trials. But they felt that since the fitness trial was not performance specific, the athletes should be given some leniency and be given the benefit of doubt,” AFI sources told TOI.
“The coaches of these two athletes assured that their wards would come up with a similar performance in Tokyo, quite like the way they did in the qualifiers. They gave written undertakings that they may be suspended if that’s not the case. Based on that we allowed them to travel to Tokyo.”
Sources said that AFI had to take the undertaking to ensure that the athletes and their coaches are accountable for their performance in big events.
Sreeshankar had come under the AFI scnaner after his below par performance in the fitness trial in Bengaluru on Wednesday where his best jump of 7.48m was more than two feet shorter than the 8.26 effort that earned him a Games berth in March.
Race walker KT Irfan, who too struggled in the fitness trial, was also allowed to travel with the same condition. Irfan was India’s first track and field athlete to qualify for the Olympics when he clocked 1 hour 20 minutes and 57 seconds in the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan in 2019.
“The selectors were disappointed with their performance in the trials. But they felt that since the fitness trial was not performance specific, the athletes should be given some leniency and be given the benefit of doubt,” AFI sources told TOI.
“The coaches of these two athletes assured that their wards would come up with a similar performance in Tokyo, quite like the way they did in the qualifiers. They gave written undertakings that they may be suspended if that’s not the case. Based on that we allowed them to travel to Tokyo.”
Sources said that AFI had to take the undertaking to ensure that the athletes and their coaches are accountable for their performance in big events.
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