National record could fall early this year, predicts triple jumper Praveen Chithravel

ATHLETICS | The Indoor Asians silver medallist hopes to go over 17.40m this year

With his performance graph fluctuating wildly the last few years, triple jumper Praveen Chithravel has often left athletics aficionados confused. He could do 17m one day and fall to 15 the next.

The youngster promised much with his performances at home but often failed to deliver on the international stage.

Now, after opening his season with an impressive 16.98m for the Indoor Asians silver in Kazakhstan last week, Chithravel feels this could be a very memorable year.

“The goal is to do more than 17.40m this year. I need to jump something like 17.40 or 17.50m, that sort of process is going on and it’s going good,” said Chithravel in a chat with The Hindu from his training base at Ballari’s JSW Inspire Institute of Sport, on Thursday.

The 21-year-old will have plenty of opportunities for the big jumps this year is packed with the Asian Championships (July, Thailand), Worlds (Hungary, August) and Asian Games (September, China).

But a lot could happen before that.

“Now we have four or five jumpers over 17m, they are pushing me. There’s a good chance that one of us could break the national record on March 2 itself (at their domestic season-opening Jumps Indian Open in Ballari),” said the triple jumper from Thanjavur, who is third in the country’s all-time list (17.18m, Chennai, 2022).