New Delhi: Star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar clinched his third straight title after returning from a long injury lay-off, winning the event at the Qosanov Memorial Athletics Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.

The 26-year-old produced a winning leap of 7.94m on his opening attempt to secure top spot at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meet. His subsequent jumps measured 7.73m, 7.58m, 7.57m, 7.80m and 7.79m. He holds a personal best of 8.41m.

This was his third outing since recovering from a knee injury in April last year. The surgery forced him to miss the 2024 Paris Olympics despite having qualified.

Sreeshankar won the Indian Open in Pune with a jump of 8.05m in his comeback meet and followed it with a 7.75m effort at the Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto in Portugal.

His last international appearance before the injury was a silver-medal finish at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

He is yet to qualify for the Tokyo World Championships in September, where the men's long jump qualification standard is 8.27m.