India's Praveen Chithravel finishes sixth on debut in Monaco Diamond League

National Record holder registered 16.59m in his maiden meet at Monaco

India's national record holder Praveen Chithravel finished sixth by registering 16.59m in men's triple jump at the Monaco Diamond League 2023. This was also Praveen's maiden Diamond League appearance. Huge Fabrice Zango from Burkino Faso claimed the top spot.

Praveen Chithravel ,23, was returning back from injury sustained a few months back. The national record holder made a late entry to the tournament and put in a below average performance. He started the series with a mediocre 15.69m but slowly improved upon his performance in the next few attempts.

Praveen Chithravel's series - 15.69m, 16.44m, 16.54m, 16.32m, and 16.59m

In the final jump, the scored board initially showed 16.75m which was later corrected to 16.59m thereby ending his run at his maiden Diamond League meet. The sixth place finish fetches, the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships gold medallist three DL points.

Post his national record performance of 17.37m in Cuba, the Indian Triple Jumper has been out due to an injury - barring his presence at the Inter States. With AFI (Athletics Federation of India) making it mandatory for all athletes (expect Neeraj Chopra and Avinash Sable) to take part in the Inter States, Chithravel had to participate in order to qualify for the Asian Games.

He breached the Asiad mark set by AFI by registering 17.07m which also earned him a gold medal. He was later scheduled to take part in the Asian Athletics Championships but Praveen was sidelined from taking part as he was fully recovering from the injury and wanted to focus solely on the World Championships.

As reported by Sportstar, for Praveen to take part in World Championships he will now have to prove his fitness before he heads to Budapest.