Praveen Chithravel sealed the Asian Games qualification mark with a 16.92m jump at the Inter State Athletics Championships. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

With his first attempt of 16.92m at the Inter State Athletics Championships, Praveen Chithravel had both crossed the qualification standard for the Asian Games and recorded the winning jump of the men’s triple jump competition.

After that it seemed that the Indian national record holder dropped down a gear. While the rest of the field looked to improve, over his next five jumps, Praveen, the Indian national record holder with 17.37m, didn’t come close to that first jump. He ended up recording efforts of 16.24m, 16.35m and 15.96m and fouling his last two attempts.

Not all of this was Praveen’s doing. Morning rain had left the track at the Kalinga Stadium soaked and heavy. “It was difficult to get any speed on this track.

I told Praveen that everything was fine but I knew that it would be difficult to get a good jump here,” says Praveen’s coach Yoandri Betenzos who coaches him at the Inspire Institute of Sport in Bellary.

At any other year in his career, the 25-year-old wouldn’t have been happy with his sequence of jumps. But this time though Praveen doesn’t mind. “The purpose of this competition was simply to meet the qualifications standard. Once I did that, I didn’t really try to jump as far as I could. It was more important to avoid any injury,” he said.

This has been the nature of Praveen’s season so far. Last year, Praveen set a national record early in the season at the Federation Cup in March which had followed a winning jump of 17.13m in only his second competition.

In 2023, he once again jumped 17.37m in just his second competition of the season before seeing his form tail away – ending with a 16.68m jump at the Asian Games in Hangzhou where he just about made the podium.

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This season in contrast, Praveen has competed five times, with a best of 17.08m at the Federation Cup last month. His goals are clear, he’d miss out on pushing himself at domestic competitions and save his best jumps for where it matters. That would be at next months’ Commonwealth Games -- where he had finished fourth in 2022 -- and then the Asian Games in September.

“I don’t want this season to be like last year where I started well and then didn’t perform where I needed to,” he says.

Indeed after peaking with the national record, Praveen’s results saw a downward trend. At the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, where he had hoped to contend for a medal, Praveen failed even to qualify for the final, finishing in 15th place with a best jump of 16.74m.

“I cried so much after that result,” Praveen told Sportstar later on Thursday.

That result he says though, steeled his mind. “ I’ve already lost a lot in the past. Now I want to regain all what I’ve lost. I’ve lost where I should have won but one day I will definitely win. I’m just waiting for the Commonwealth and Asian Games. I’m focusing on those two competitions,” he says.

He believes he’s in good shape for those two competitions. “Training is going good. Everything is going smoothly,” he says.

He’s pushing himself to do even better though. A good natured rivalry with two time world silver medallist coach Betanzos is helping. “In training I know I have to do so much more. My coach always teases me. He has a personal best of 17.69m. He’s always telling me ‘I’m your father!” I don’t want this to go on. I really want to kill him with my performances,” he says.

Betanzos says Praveen has it in himself to produce a big jump where it matters. “I know that he can jump 17.40m and more. And he will have to jump 17.50m and more if he wants to win a gold at the Commonwealth Games. He will have to do the same thing in the Asian Games also,” he says.

The Inter State Championships is only a stepping stone towards that goal. Praveen will likely be taking in one more tune up competition in Europe next month before heading to Glasgow and subsequently Nagoya. He’s determined not to come back empty handed. “Last time I was in Japan for the World Championships I ended up crying. But this time in Japan I don’t want to be crying,” he says.

Published on Jun 26, 2026