Double delight for Kerala as Sajan Prakash, M Sreeshankar storm into Commonwealth Games finals

Day 5 of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow brought double delight for Kerala as two athletes from the state—Sajan Prakash and Murali Sreeshankar—qualified for the finals of the men's 200m butterfly and long jump respectively.

Sajan qualified for the final of the men's 200m butterfly after finishing second in Heat 2. He recorded a time of 1 minute 58.59 seconds. He will compete in the final at 1.44 am on July 28.

The Indian swimmer finished 0.30 seconds behind Scotland's Duncan Scott. However, Sajan's timing was slower than his personal best of 1:57.09.

Meanwhile, another Malayali in the fray, Palakkad native M Sreeshankar, qualified for the long jump final with his very first attempt.

The default qualification mark was set at 8.00m, and Sreeshankar cleared 8.01m to book his place in the final directly.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist will be aiming to better that performance in the final, scheduled for 11.54 pm on July 29.