Indian long jumper Jinson Johnson is all set to compete in the Asian Athletics Championship which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand between July 12 to 16.
It will be Johnson's first appearance in a major championship in the last four years as he remained out of action for a prolonged time period due to injuries.
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He won a gold and a silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and a year later, broke his own national record in the 1500m category in Berlin with a timing of 3:35.24s.
What happened to Jinson Johnson?
With a national record under his belt, Johnson was set to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But as fate would have it, during the Doha Asian Championship in 2019, the athlete had to pull up in the 800m final with a calf injury and a few months later he suffered an Achilles tendon injury.
In 2022 again, he was ruled out of action due to a hamstring injury which further delayed his return to the track.
Jinson Johnson injury update - When is the Indian athlete returning to action?
Despite losing some of his best years due to a series of unfortunate injuries, Johnson is now fit and is set to compete after four years at the Bangkok Asian Championship this month.
What did Jinson Johnson say on his comeback?
Speaking to Sportstar, Johnson said,
I’ll be going to the Thailand Asians with the same sort of feeling I had when I went for the 2015 Asians in Wuhan, China. That was my first international meet and I was very excited then. This is a sort of new start for me.
I did my best then, got a medal (silver, 800m)...the previous year, no Indian male had got a medal at the Asian Games in middle-distance events. Now, I’m looking to do my best.
The 32-year-old added,
I did two competitions in the US and two more in the country, the Federation Cup and inter-State. I did not get much time to do workouts for improving my performance. I expect to prepare well for the Asian Games (September, China) in the two months available after the Asians. My focus this year is the Asiad.
I did those 3:40 to 3:42 races recently and I’m hoping to do the Asians in that same flow. I see these Asians as a nice exposure competition.
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