Indian athletes returned with three individual medals at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships last week but for the medalists, it was more a case of gold lost than silver or bronze won.

Ashish Yadav, who became only the second Indian javelin thrower to win a medal with his 74.09m throw for silver, blamed lack of practice and injury for his below-par performance.

“My throwing on ground had completely stopped before the competition. I was in rehab, recovering from a knee and hamstring injury and went straight into competition and could not do as well as I had hoped,” Ashish said during a media interaction here on Wednesday.

While even matching his personal best of 79m would have still kept him in second spot, Ashish is now hoping to become the latest addition to the group of 80m plus throwers in the country.

“This was only my second international competition and the previous one, the Asian Under-20 Championships (in May) was disappointing so a medal here is satisfying,” he added. Ashish had failed to cross 70m and placed fifth then.

Basant Meghwal, who missed out on gold in high jump on countback, was equally disappointed. Meghwal finished behind Younes Ayachi of Algeria, having cleared 2.21m in his second attempt.

“I was thinking about gold only but it didn’t happen. I am happy I matched my personal best but if I had done so in my first attempt, I could have got gold. I even tried going for 2.24m but the previous attempt took a lot of effort and my ankle had started paining,” he explained.

Shahnavaz Khan, who won bronze in long jump and has already qualified for the Asian Games, rued the fact that he started cramping after his third jump, which was also his best attempt at 7.84m. “My best normally is in the last three jumps only but I was unable to push harder because of cramps. But I am confident of recovering well in time for Asian Games,” he insisted.

Seasoned long jumper M. Sreeshankar values his second-best career effort of 8.38m, achieved despite a wet track and rotating wind at the National inter-State athletics at the Kalinga Stadium here.

Sreeshankar emphasised that this was his best performance since undergoing a knee surgery in April 2024. Despite a swollen knee and a troublesome ankle, he has shown strong consistency, clearing 8m in all five competitions since April this season.

Retaining the enthusiasm

The 27-year-old retains the enthusiasm he had eight years ago when he first crossed the 8m mark as a teenager. “I was just counting. This was my 60th jump above 8m. The kind of consistency I’ve put in, especially after the career-threatening injury I had in 2024, I was eagerly awaiting a good jump,” said Sreeshankar, whose personal best stands at 8.41m.

“After being told that I won’t be able to jump again, it really feels special. I’m grateful for whatever I’m doing.

“Still, my knees are not 100%, they’re swollen. There are three ankle screws. I need to ice it regularly, do a soft tissue massage and work on my mechanics. I’ve gotten used to the new kind of training schedules.”

He thanked his father-cum-coach S. Murali and strength-and-conditioning coach Wayne Lombard for their solid support.

Sreeshankar is delighted with the depth in Indian long jump. “Before we left our room today, I told my dad that the competition is going to be above 8.30m for sure,” revealed Sreeshankar, who is now seventh among the world’s leading jumpers this season.

Shahnavaz Khan backed Sreeshankar’s prediction, leaping 8.30m to place second and move to 11th in the world. “There’re at least three-four people who are capable of that kind of jump. India has a wild start right now. We’ve four jumpers above 8.20m (in 2026).”

Inspiration

Aware of the challenges the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will present, Sreeshankar looks to elite global athletes for inspiration.

“We need to replicate what we do here, just there. Miltiadis Tentoglou and others, irrespective of the conditions, don’t complain. Adaptation is something that we’re missing. Once that comes, LA 2028 should be really interesting,” said Sreeshankar.