Cyprus International Athletics Meeting: Indian long jumper Muhammed Anees Yahiya misses bronze

Muhammed Anees Yahiya narrowly missed the bronze medal as Great Britain’s Jack Roach finished third.

Indian long jumper Muhammed Anees Yahiya, at the Cyprus International Athletics Meeting, closely missed winning a bronze medal on Thursday. The bronze went to  Great Britain’s Jack Roach, who finished third with a jump of 7.60m. Roach’s jump was similar to that of Yahiya, but he won the bronze due to a higher second-best jump. Roach’s second-best jump was 7.58m, and Yahiya was behind him by 0.07m.

Meanwhile, a couple of days ago, Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin made it one-two for India in men’s long jump during the International Jumping Meeting. The Meeting was a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze level event, held in Kallithea, Greece.

In fact, Sreeshankar bagged gold with a season-best of 8.18m (wind speed: +0.6m/s) in his final attempt. He had also won silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year after the 24-year-old started with a jump of 7.94m before reaching 8.17m, 8.11m, 8.04m and 8.01m in his following attempts. He bagged the gold last year as well with a best jump of 8.31m.

At the time, he became the first Indian athlete to win a medal in the men's Long Jump event at the Commonwealth Games.

Coming to Aldrin, he wrapped up second and won silver with 7.85m (wind speed: 0.5m/s). The 21-year-old, who is also the national record-holder, kicked off his jump with 7.81m before getting his best in the second attempt. His next three jumps were at 7.74m, 7.74m and 7.79m while the last one went in a foul.

Meanwhile, as for Yahiya, he too performed well at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year. With a best jump of 7.97m, he ended up finishing fifth in the same event.