Eldhose Paul has 17m on his mind as he heads for the Doha Diamond League

The 26-year-old Commonwealth Games triple jump champion will be making his Diamond League debut in Doha

He is the Commonwealth Games champion, the man who surprised many as he grabbed the gold in Birmingham. But triple jumper Eldhose Paul is yet to cross the 17m barrier under legal wind conditions and that is something he would like to achieve as soon as possible..

The Birmingham gold last August came with a wind-assisted (+3.1) 17.03m and hence will not be counted as personal best. His best under legal wind conditions was the 16.99m at the Federation Cup in Malappuram in April 2022.

Eldhose will get a chance to cross 17m when he competes in the Diamond League opener in Doha on May 5.

“That will be my first Diamond League, I will be leaving on May 3,” Eldhose told The Hindu from Bengaluru on Sunday. “I have not reached full peak but I expect a decent performance. The workouts are aimed at the Asian Games and World Championships, so I plan to give the maximum as per my current workouts. I’m looking at 17-plus, if the conditions there are ideal, that could come. But I will not be going all out, we are on load workout, if we go all out, there are chances of getting an injury. I will try to do the optimum as per my current workout level.”

Though the full list of triple jumpers for the Doha Diamond League is not yet out, the competition will see some of the world’s best. And that will be a golden chance for the youngster. “If I do well, there will be more such big openings,” he said.

The 26-year-old from Kerala who was ninth at the World Championships in the US last July, feels the competition for places in the Indian team for this year’s Asian Games will be intense.

“Four of us (Abdulla Aboobacker, Praveen Chitravel and Karthik Unnikrishnan are the others) are almost at the same level. And unlike the Commonwealth Games, we can have only two athletes in the Asian Games team, so it will not be easy,” said Eldhose.