Suresh Babu (10 February 1953 – 19 February 2011) was an Indian long jumper from

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

who had held the national titles in the

long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

, and

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

events, in addition to the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

. Suresh Babu dominated the scene between 1972 and 1979, winning national titles in the jumps and decathlon and at the same time picking his event for laurels on the international arena. He was one of the athletes to win medals in two events in successive

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

, the bronze in the decathlon in the Tehran Asian Games in 1974 and a gold in the long jump in the Bangkok Asian Games, 1978. Babu died on 19 February 2011 in

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area o ...

while attending the

2011 National Games of India The 2011 National Games of India, also known as the ''34th National Games of India'' and informally as Jharkhand 2011 was the 34th edition of National Games of India, held from 12 February 2011 to 26 February 2011 in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. Se ...

Early life

Born in

Kollam Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city ...

on 10 February 1953, Suresh Babu was a science graduate who was good in athletics. He excelled as an athlete in Infant Jesus High School and the Fatima Mata College in Kollam. His first appearance at the national level was as a junior at Jalandhar in 1969. Three years later he won the national championship in

, a title he was to claim for six more years. Switching from one pit to another, he won the national championship in

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

during the years 1974, 1977 and 1979 and the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

in 1974, 1976 and 1978. In between he strayed over to the ten card event of decathlon and imposed himself on the national scene in the championships held in 1974, 1975 and 1978.

International career

The

Munich Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

of 1972 he had his first exposure of international athletics, but it was in the Tehran Asian Games in 1974 he won his first medal. This was a Bronze in the decathlon. He won Gold medal in the

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

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the following year. In between he was the captain of the Indian University's athletics team during the World Universities Games at

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1973. Suresh Babu led the Indian athletics team to the 1978

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

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and won a bronze medal for long jump. He then went on to win the gold medal at the

1978 Asian Games The 8th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1978, in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally, the host city was Singapore but Singapore dropped its plan to host the Games due to financial problems. Then Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, was de ...

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, His winning effort of 7.85 metres was far short of T. C. Yohannan's 8.07 metres of the earlier Games. His next target was the 1979 Asian Athletics Meet in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

where he won a silver medal, During his seven years as an active athlete Suresh Babu also won medals for India at competitions in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

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and the

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and was the captain of the Indian team for the World Athletics Meet at

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in 1979.

In retirement from athletics

Suresh was employed as a Sports Officer with Kerala Sports Council, Suresh Babu had earlier served as Special Officer for Sports and Games, on the Kerala State Electricity Board. He was a member of the Technical Committee of the All India Electricity Sports Control Board and a coach at the

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is the apex national sports body of India, established in 1982 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of Government of India for the development of sports in India. SAI has 2 Sports Academic instituti ...

(Southern Centre) in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. He was the State Supervisor of SAI for Kerala and Lakshadweep.

Awards and honors

*Recipient of Arjuna Award, 1978–79

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Babu, Suresh 1953 births 2011 deaths Sportspeople from Kollam Malayali people Recipients of the Arjuna Award Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Olympic athletes of India Indian male long jumpers Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1978 Asian Games Indian decathletes Indian male high jumpers Indian male triple jumpers Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes from Kerala Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games