Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar to begin season in Shanghai Diamond League

New Delhi: Top Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will compete in back-to-back Diamond League Meetings in Shanghai/Suzhou and Doha on April 27 and May 10 respectively to begin action in a crucial Olympic year.

Last year, the 25-year-old Sreeshankar became only the third Indian to finish inside the top-three in a Diamond League Meeting in the Paris leg on June 9 with a third place finish, after Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and former discus thrower Vikas Gowda.

He had won a silver in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year but disappointed with a qualifying round exit in the 2023 Budapest World Championships.

"Team IIS athlete Sreeshankar Murali will begin his 2024 season at the Shanghai DL, and then make his way to Qatar for the Doha DL. Let's do this, Sree!," said a tweet from Inspire Institute of Sport where Sreeshankar trains.

In Doha, Sreeshankar will be joined by Chopra and another Indian javelin thrower Kishore Jena in a star-studded field. Both Chopra and Jena are starting their season in Doha.

Meanwhile, 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist triple jumper Abdulla Aboobacker will compete in the season's first Diamond League Meeting in Xiamen, China, on April 20.