NEW DELHI: Ace Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar has been ruled out of Paris Olympics after sustaining a knee injury during training that would require a surgery, which will also see him miss the entire 2024 season.
Sreeshankar, an Asian Games and Commonwealth Games silver medallist, had made the cut for the Paris Olympics after recording an 8.37m jump en route to a silver medal at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships.
The 25-year-old was slated to begin his season with Diamond League meetings in Shanghai/Suzhou and Doha on April 27 and May 10 respectively. But he sustained an injury during training on Tuesday, ending his Olympic dream.
“Unfortunately, in what feels like a nightmare, but is a reality, my Paris Olympics dream is over,” Sreeshankar said in a social media post. “I suffered a knee injury during training on Tuesday, and all the tests and consultations later, it’s been decided that I would need surgery, ruling me out of the one single thing I’ve chased relentlessly all these years.
In June last year, Sreeshankar had become only the third Indian to finish in the top three in a Diamond League Meeting with a third-place finish