Prem Kumar comes up with back-to-back 8 m-plus jumps

NEW DELHI: National record holder long jumper Prem Kumar Kumaravel today came up with a creditable effort of 8.01m, his back-to-back 8m-plus leap in a span of two weeks, at an invitational event at Irvine in United States.

21-year-old Prem, who holds the national record of 8.09m which he achieved in 2013, had two identical jumps of 8.01m in his first and fifth attempts at the 21st annual Adidas/Steve Scott Invitational event at University of California's Anteater Stadium.

Prem, who skipped the ongoing Federation Cup Athletics Championships in Mangaluru, was second behind Ted Hooper (8.08m) while Willie Alexander was third with 7.65m.

With two 8m-plus jumps in two weeks' time, Prem Kumar is expected to be in the frame for selection for the Asian Athletics Championships in Wuhan, China from June 3-7 though he has not taken part in the Federation Cup. He had jumped 8.04m during the 57th edition of America's popular Mt San Antonio College relays at Walnut, California on April 18.

The qualifying standard set by the Athletics Federation for the Asian Championships is 7.76m.