Shahnavaz is the leading jumper this season with a massive jump of 8.23m, a personal best. 

Navneet Singh

Uttar Pradesh’s talented long jumper Shahnavaz Khan has his priorities set this season. One of his goals is to win a medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games starting September.

“I’m mentally and physically prepared to excel at the Japan Asian Games,” the Uttar Pradesh long jumper told Sportsbackstory.com on his arrival from Hong Kong on Monday.

Shahnavaz was among the 10 Indian athletes who won gold medals in their respective events during 22nd Asian U20 Athletics Championships held in Hong Kong between May 28 to 31. Overall India won 19 medals and finished second behind China in the medal table.

Shahnavaz won men’s long jump gold with a leap of 7.84m. Compatriot Jithin Arjunan Raman Chandrasekaran won silver with a jump of 7.66m.

He was excited to have won his first international medal. At the 2026 Asian Indoor meet in China he finished fourth. “The Asian U20 performance will give a boost to my confidence,” says the gold medallist.

Earlier in April the promising long jumper from the rural belt of Eastern Uttar Pradesh recorded a jump of 8.23m during a domestic meet. It ranked him No 1 long jumper in India and he has the potential to further improve in coming months. “I will take some days to recover from the Hong Kong journey and get back to training to stay in the race to book a berth for the Asian Games,” says Shahnavaz Khan of his immediate plans. The final selection trials for the Asian Games will take place during a domestic meet in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The teenager long jumper’s journey to athletics was not through an ecosystem at the grassroots level but through an opportunity that came at his home town in Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh.

“I was interested in sports and took part in multiple events back home,” recalls Shahnavaz. Initially he was mentored by a javelin thrower, but was too skinny to try throwing events. “I felt more comfortable jumping, so I took up long jump,” says the youngster.

Currently he is training at NCOE (National Centre of Excellence) in Trivandrum where he is getting all the facilities under one umbrella.

EOM