Priya’s focus on triple jump

The 18-year-old first year student of Madras Medical College, who set the record in triple jump in the South Asian Junior Athletics Championship in Colombo last week on her way to gold was doing 100 metre hurdles and long jump until now says she would be chasing only triple jump goals hereafter.

A brilliant student, who had won a rank in her school exams, Priyadarshini was out of action for a while after 2016, mainly because of an ailment and exams. However, she came back to the track through a State selection trial this year and went to Coimbatore to take part in the Junior Federation Cup Meet from where she qualified for the South Asian Championship in Sri Lanka. 

“She jumped 12.90 metres in Colombo, but it was wind-assisted,” revealed Priyadarshini’s father Suresh. “The allowed wind speed was two metres but there it was three. The qualifying mark for the World Junior Meet later this year in Finland is 12.85 metres,” he added. Priya’s second best jump in Colombo was 12.69 metres, which was also better than the best in the South Asian record of 12.68. She has done 12.82 in the Junior Federation Cup and her focus now is to touch 12.85 to ensure her qualification for the World Junior Championship. For that, she will be participating in the Asian Junior Championship in Gifu in Japan from June 7 to 10. Priya does not want to leave track for studies. She says she wants to combine athletics and medical profession.