Thursday, December 26, 2013

Indian Long Jumpers

 Indian long jumpers, almost in all cases, come from a very humble and modest background. The sport in itself is less popular in India, hence not lot of attention is received from the masses, media or government sports authorities. However, with utmost sense of belief and determination athletes have climbed the ladder of success and made their country proud. Even with minimal opportunities and infrastructural facilities they have won several awards of national importance. Here is a list of some of the big names in the Indian long jumping circuit.

Vijay Singh Chauhan
Vijay Singh Chauhan is a former Indian athlete who won gold medal in decathlon in 1974 Asian Games. He participated in 1972 Olympics. He was born in 1949 in Uttar Pradesh state. He was honoured with Arjuna award.

Reeth Abraham
Reeth Abraham is an athlete from India and was once the national champion in long jump and heptathlon. She won the Arjuna Award in 1997.

Mayookha Johny
Mayookha Johny, born 9 April 1988, is an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala who specialises in long jump and triple jump. She holds the current Indian National record for triple jump with a mark of 14.11m. She is the first Indian woman to cross the 14m mark.

Amritpal Singh
Amritpal Singh, born 6 October 1983, is an Indian track and field athlete from Punjab who specializes in long jump. He holds the current national record of 8.08 metres in long jump. On 16 March 2004, Amritpal broke one of the oldest national records in Indian athletics - T. C. Yohannan`s 3-decade-old record in the long jump - by leaping to a distance of 8.08 metres in the 10th Federation Cup Athletics Championships at the Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

Suresh Babu
Suresh Babu, born on 10th February 1953, was an Indian long jumper from Indian state of Kerala who had held the national titles in the long, triple, and high jump events, in addition to the decathlon. He was one of the athletes to win medals in two events in successive Asian Games, the bronze in the decathlon in the Tehran Asian Games in 1974 and gold in the long jump in the Bangkok Asian Games, 1978.

Mercy Kuttan
Mercy Kuttan, born 1 January 1960, is a former Indian track and field athlete. She was the first Indian woman long jumper to cross six meters. In 1989, Mercy received Arjuna Award for her contribution to the Indian athletics.

T. C. Yohannan
Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan, born 19 May 1947, better known as T. C. Yohannan, is a former Indian long jumper who held the national record in long jump for nearly 3 decades and represented India in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal at Canada

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