Eldhose Paul wins historic gold for India in triple jump at Commonwealth Games 2022, Abdulla Aboobacker takes silver
Eldhose Paul led India's historic 1-2 finish in men's triple jump at the Commonwealth Games as he won a rare gold medal in track and field events and was followed by fellow Kerala athlete Abdulla Aboobacker.
In a first for India at the Commonwealth Games 2022, Eldhose Paul won gold with a best jump of 17.03m in Men's Triple Jump event. The icing on the cake was that India also secured the silver in the same event with compatriot Abdulla Aboobacker finishing second with a best jump of 17.02m. With the double delight for India in Athletics, India climbed to the 10th position in the medals tally for Athletics and Para Athletics at CWG 2022.
In the men's triple jump event on Sunday, Paul had a rather average start with a jump of just 14.62 in the first attempt. He bettered it by jumping 16.30m in the second attempt but he knew that wasn't going to be enough for gold. In his third attempt, Paul made a monstrous jump of 17.03m to go first on the table.
The 17.03m jump was too far a bridge for all other athletes to cover, barring his compatriot Abdulla, who came near by jumping 17.02m, a difference of just one centimeters. Another Indian Praveen Chithravel came very close to clinching the bronze with a best jump of 16.89m but lost it to Bermuda's Perinchief whose effort of 16.92m was enough to get him ahead.
India have won four triple jump medals in the past editions but this is the first time two athletes from the country have got podium finishes. Mohinder Singh Gill had won a bronze and a silver in 1970 and 1974 editions while Renjith Maheswary and Arpinder Singh had finished third in 2010 and 2014 editions.
