One of the India’s top medal contenders at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2026, Murali Sreeshankar advanced into the final event of men’s long jump after he cleared the automatic qualification mark of 8.00m with a leap of 8.01m in his opening effort in Group A. The finals will be held on July 29.
Athletes who crossed the 8.00m mark or finished among the top 12 progressed to the final. Sreeshankar’s effort comfortably secured his place as he eyes an upgrade from the silver medal he won in Birmingham in 2022. The 27-year-old, who is on a comeback trail has a season’s best of 8.38m.
Sreeshankar recovered from a career-threatening knee injury – a ruptured patellar tendon – which happened in April 2024. As a result, Sreeshankar had to go under the knife and also missed his maiden Olympic appearance in Paris the same year. His SB came last month in the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar.
The other Indian in fray, Lokesh Sathyanathan also qualified for the men’s long jump final. With only Sreeshankar going past the automatic qualification mark of 8.00m among all participants, Lokesh finished inside the top 12 with a best jump of 7.77m to confirm his place in the final.
Strong start by Tejas Shirse men’s 110 m hurdles
Another Indian making way into the final in athletics was Tejas Shirse, who qualified for the men’s 110 m hurdles final, getting a third-place finish in his Heat on Monday. Shirse, battling it out for a spot in the final in Heat 1, had to achieve either a top-three finish or a top-eight finish across both Heats to make it to the final.
Shirse settled for a third-place finish in his Heat, finishing with 13.76 seconds timing, as per ESPN. Despite a poor start, Tejas was able to make it to the final. The top two spots in his heat were occupied by Samuel Bennett of England (13.20s), Jerome Campbell of Jamaica (13.33s).
Gurindervir Singh cuts sorry figure in men’s 100m
Meanwhile, sprinter Gurindervir Singh displayed a disappointing show in Glasgow. One of the country’s brightest medal prospects at CWG 2026, Gurindervir was knocked out in the men’s 100m event during the Heats, which was a crushing blow to India’s overall medal prospects.
Before CWG, Gurindervir had produced a massive hype by becoming the first Indian man to clock sub-10.10 seconds in the men’s 100m, storming to victory at the Federation Cup in Ranchi with a sensational national record time of 10.09 seconds in May.
The 24-year-old shaved 0.06 seconds off the previous national mark, which had been set just a day earlier in the semifinals by Animesh Kujur. But after all the hype, Gurindervir, who was getting his first taste of the Commonwealth Games, could not live up to the expectations.
In the heats, Gurindervir registered a timing of 10.39s, which was not enough to give him a semifinal spot. Only the top 17 athletes are getting a shot at the semi-finals. After all eleven heats, Gurindervir finished in 28th place out of 73 runners. A timing of 10.24s would have allowed him to reach the semifinals, but it was not meant to be for the rising Indian athlete.