Aishwarya breaks nat'l record in triple jump at Athletics C'ships

CHENNAI: Karnataka's Aishwarya B broke the Triple Jump national record with a mark of 14.14m at the 61st National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship, in Chennai on Monday.

In an Indian context, the women's long jump has long been the marked piper among all athletics disciplines. Previously the national record among women was held by Mayookha Johny at 14.11m, setting the mark at the 2011 Asian Championships in Kobe, Japan.

Aishwarya improved the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard of 6.50m set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

Aishwarya B made the second-longest jump recorded by any Indian female athlete ever in the ongoing Inter-state Athletics championship.

She produced a meet-record jump of 6. 73m, only .1 short of the jump made by the Olympics great Anju Babby George in Athens 2004.

"I was expecting this because I was practising for the big national record. This is my main event. Before this tournament, I started preparing really hard for more than two days.

I will try to break another record in my next match," Aishwarya said. "I am so happy to have done this. I have to thank my coach B.P. Aiyappa and Pramila and JSW Group for supporting me. I want to do well in both long and triple jump," she added.

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