Aboobacker narrowly misses World Championships qualification mark, wins Indian Open Jumps event

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Abdulla Aboobacker equalled his personal best of 17.19m to win the men’s triple jump gold at the 4th Indian Open Jumps Competition at the Anju Bobby George Foundation here on Saturday.

The 29-year-old, however, narrowly missed the qualification mark of 17.22m for September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Aboobacker, though, was confident that he would scale the distance at his next event, which is mostly likely to be the Federation Senior Athletics from April 21 to 24.

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On the day, Aboobacker looked rusty, for these are still early days in the season. He was trailing Praveen Chithravel until the last attempt and four of his first five jumps were fouls. But with a significant tailwind propelling him, he reserved his best for the last and relegated Praveen to second place (17.13m).

Long jumper Moumita Mondal
| Photo Credit:
K MURALI KUMAR/ THE HINDU

Elsewhere, Moumita Mondal overcame windy conditions – and more than a few drops of rain – to record a personal best in women’s long jump (6.44m) and beat Asian Games silver medallist Ancy Sojan (6.33m) to the gold.