An MBBS seat goes for more than Rs 1 crore these days but Kerala’s M. Sreeshankar turned down one he got through the sports quota recently.
He wanted to focus on the long jump and hence took up civil engineering which he felt offered him more time for sports.
The 18-year-old, who is returning after a hamstring-injury-forced break, sailed to 7.72m with his opener in the 33rd Coromandel National junior athletics championships at the Acharya Nagarjuna University, Mangalagiri on Sunday.
That brought him a ticket to next year’s under-20 World Championships in Finland (entry standard 7.55m) and also a meet record.
Sreeshankar, from Palakkad, played it safe after the big one. He had a 7.54 and a foul on his next two efforts and then gave up his last three chances as the others could not come anywhere near him.
“We thought he would go to eight metres, but he is just coming back from injury, we did not want him to push too hard,” said his father Murali, a former international who is also his coach.
UP’s Kiran Baliyan also made the cut for the Worlds with a 14.54m effort (14.50m) in the under-20 girls’ shot put, while Akash Kumar, also from UP, booked his Finland berth clocking 21.26 (21.35) in the under-20 boys’ 200m semifinals.
The under-16 boys’ 200m final is set for a hot finish with both the semifinal winners, Delhi’s Nisar Ahmed (22.03s) and Haryana’s Kapil (22.02) bettering the National record (22.11).
The results:
Boys: Under-20: Long jump: M. Sreeshankar (Ker) 7.72m ( MR , OR 7.57). Pole vault: K.G. Jessan (Ker) 4.70m. Hammer: Miraj Ali (UP) 63.67m. 4x100m relay: Kerala (41.55s).
Under-18: 400m hurdles: Anandhu Vijayan (Ker) 53.33s. Pole vault: Parshant Singh Kanhiya (Har) 4.75m ( NR , OR 4.72). 1000m sprint medley: Karnataka (1.55.21s).
Under-16: Shot put: Adish Ghildiyal (Utr) 18.05m ( NR , OR 17.91). Discus: Vaibhav Choudhary (UP) 48.73m. 1000m sprint medley: Haryana (1.56.95s) ( MR , OR 1:57.09).
Under-14: High jump: Vijay Malik (Har) 1.93m ( NR , OR 1.92).
Girls: Under-20: 400m hurdles: P.O. Sayana (Ker) 1.01.13s. Long jump: Priyanka Kerketta (Jha) 6.18m. High jump: Rekha (Har) 1.74m ( MR , OR 1.73); 2. Laimwn Narzary, 1.74 ( BMR ). Shot put: Kiran Baliyan (UP) 14.54m. Discus: Seema (Haryana) 45.34m. Heptathlon: Madhu (Har) 4303 pts. 4x100m relay: Kerala (47.72s).
Under-18: 3000m: Seema (HP) 9:50.54s ( NR , OR 9:56.25). 400m hurdles: J. Vishnupriya J (Ker) 1.02.47s. Triple jump: Lizbeth Karoline Joseph (Ker) 12.35m. Discus: Asha Rani (Har) 42.39m. 1000m sprint medley: Tamil Nadu (2.13.75s).
Under-16: 1000m sprint medley: Kerala (2.17.64s).
