Jeswin Aldrin has been given another chance to earn his place in India's squad for the World Championships, a day after he was left out of the team. The Athletics Federation of India's chief coach, Radhakrishnan Nair, has sent a letter to the long-jumper on Friday asking him to attend a trial at the National Institute of Sport Patiala on July 4.
Jeswin, who had crossed the qualification standard of 8.22m set by the World Athletics back in April, has to jump "close to 8.10m" to be eligible to make it to the Indian team. India's top two long-jumpers on current form - Murali Sreeshankar [best of 8.36m] and Muhammed Anees Yahiya [best of 8.15m] - have already been named in the team on Thursday. Jeswin was left out owing to his dip in form and inconsistency, said the AFI.
The 20-year-old has shown glimpses of brilliance this year with a massive 8.37m jump at the Federation Cup in April being the best of the lot. However it did not count as a new national record owing to favourable tailwind. His best legal jump also came in the same event: 8.26m.
For context, that is the seventh-best jump in the world in 2022 and would have won him the silver medal at Thursday's Diamond League event in Stockholm [Tokyo Olympics gold-medallist Miltiadis Tentoglou won the event with a best of 8.31m].
However, Jeswin endured a slump in form since his fine show in April and was subsequently left out of the World Championships squad despite meeting the qualification standard. Jeswin's best jump over his last three events - across Italy, Spain and Chennai - has been 7.82m. He had a mediocre outing at the Inter-State Championships in Chennai last month, where he had five foul jumps in the final and finished sixth with a best of 7.51m.
"Jeswin had met the qualification standard for the World Championships, but his jumps were getting lower with each event," AFI president Adille Sumariwallam said on Thursday while announcing the team for the World Championships. "He's not even the best in his event," AFI planning committee chairman Lalit Bhanot had added.
Jeswin, who was in New Delhi until two days ago to get a US Visa for the World Championships, will now fly back to New Delhi with the aim of punching a ticket to Eugene.