ATHLETICS | WA Silver meet a good preparatory platform, say Indian long jumpers

Ace long jumpers Murali Sreeshankar and Ancy Sojan think the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet, to be held at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday, will serve as a preparatory platform for the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

At a build-up press conference for the $75,000 Silver meet here on Thursday, Sreeshankar, who recently landed his second silver medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, said the competition, featuring athletes from across the globe, would test the Indians ahead of the continental extravaganza.

“This is a good preparatory event leading up to the Asian Games. The Asian Games is just 29 days away. This is a good pit stop to assess where our training and physical fitness stand. The field is also very strong,” said Sreeshankar.

Murali Sreeshankar speaks on Thursday at the press conference ahead of the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet to be held at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday, August 22, 2026.
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Ancy, who broke Anju Bobby George’s 22-year-old record at the same venue during the National inter-state meet in June, had similar thoughts. “Going through this competition, we can know what we need to do (to improve ourselves) and cover it all. This is part of the preparations,” said Ancy.

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Planning Commission chairman Lalit Bhanot said, “Our aim is to give exposure to maximum Indian athletes. The National camp for the Asian Games is also going on here.”

Odisha Sports Minister Suryabanshi Suraj said, “The experience of organising this event will help us as we will host the World Indoor and Asian Indoor athletics championships in 2028.” He informed that entry for the Silver meet will be free for the spectators.