Long Jumper Murali Sreeshankar rules out of Paris Olympics 2024 after suffering knee injury

Top Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar has been ruled out of the Paris Olympics 2024 citing a knee injury which will require him to undergo a surgery. Sreeshankar announced this heartbreaking news through social media on Thursday.

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There is not much time left for the Olympic Games to be held in Paris this year. India's medal hopes in these games have suffered a major setback as their star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, who was considered a medal contender in Paris, will not participate in these games. 

"All my life, I've had the courage to look at a setback in the eye, accept situations I can't change, and work hard at dictating the outcomes of those I can. Unfortunately, in what feels like a nightmare, but is a reality, my Paris Olympic Games dream is over," Sreeshankar wrote on Instagram.

"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 have chased relentlessly all these years," he added.

Murali Sreeshankar had won the silver medal in the Asian Athletics Championship in Bangkok last year with a jump of 8.37m. He also crossed the qualifying mark of 8.27 for the Paris Olympics. Sreeshankar had been busy preparing for Paris since then. 

“To wake up healthy every single day, and watch yourself get into the best shape of your life is every athlete’s dream. I was living it, until this incident,” Sreeshankar further added.

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Twenty-five-year-old Sreeshankar had become the third Indian to finish in the top three of the Diamond League with a third-place finish in the Paris stage on June 9 last year. Before him, Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and former discus thrower Vikas Gowda have achieved this feat. Sreeshankar had also won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year but was eliminated in the qualifying round at the 2023 Budapest World Championships.