India’s top long jumper Murali Sreeshankar has been having a good run in three International meets since returning in July 2025 from the knee injury suffered during training in April last year and the subsequent surgery in Qatar.

The 26-year-old won gold in three meets – Portugal, Kazakhstan and Bhubaneswar. His best has been an 8.13m in the World Tour Continental bronze event in Bhubaneswar (August 10), after leaping to 7.75m in Portugal and 7.94m in Kazakhstan.

With the qualifying mark for the Worlds (September 13 to 21 in Tokyo) set at 8.27m, the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist, feels he can pull it off and that he will be under no pressure when he competes in the National Inter-State meet, commencing at the Nehru Stadium here on August 20. The Inter-State is the final selection trials for the Worlds.

“I am trying to chase the qualification mark in a month, something which should have happened in a span of one year. So, I am squeezing in a one-year process into one month,” Sreeshankar told The Hindu on Tuesday.

“But I want to get that qualification mark and then go for the World Championships. I have hit the qualification mark and then gone for every Worlds (2019 in Doha & 2023 in Budapest), rather than based on World rankings.”

Sreeshankar said he has prepared well and that his knee is responding well. “My body is good. Preparation, too, has been excellent. My knee is responding quite well to the training. I am expecting some good results when the finals of the men’s long jump begins on Aug. 24 (Sunday). There is no pressure. So, when preparation meets opportunity, big jumps will come,” he said.