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Nayana James creates ripples at the Indian Open Jumps Competition

Kerala's Nayana James created ripples in the Indian Open Jumps Competition to record a personal best mark of 6.67 m.

By Soumya | Mar 28, 2024 | 2 Min Read

Kerala’s Nayana James created ripples in the Indian Open Jumps Competition to record a personal best mark of 6.67 m. The tournament was held at the Anju Bobby George Foundation here on March 20th.

On a day when no athlete threatened the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification mark, the 28-year-old’s effort stood out. Nayana’s exhilarating performance came nearly seven years after her previous best of 6.55 m. Nayana’s best jump came off her second attempt, leaving the fancied Shaili Singh with a mountain to climb. The 20-year-old struggled with her rhythm and could only manage 6.40m.

Nayana’s distance was 16 centimetres off Anju Bobby George’s National record. Moreover, it was 19 centimetres behind the Paris mark. However, in the eyes of the national jump coach Denis Kapustin had termed it the “best jumps result” in recent times.

Other significant performances at the Indian Open Jumps Competition

Another athlete to reach a personal high was Tamil Nadu’s 22-year-old Pavithra Venkatesh in the women’s pole vault as she scaled 4.15 m. It was a sweet result for the 2023 Asian indoor silver medallist. Venkatesh couldn’t travel to Tehran last month for the 2024 edition as she couldn’t carry her poles via cargo.

In the men’s triple jump, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Abdulla Aboobacker took gold (16.76m). He was followed by CWG gold medallist Eldhose Paul (16.45m) and Tamil Nadu’s Selva Prabhu (16.32m).