Murali Sreeshankar clinched a silver in men's long jump event to give India a second medal in athletics at the Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.
The 23-year-old national record holder soared to 8.08m in his fifth attempt to finish second behind Laquan Nairn of Bahamas in a nerve-wrecking men's long jump final.
Nairn also had a best jump of 8.08m but his second best of 7.98m was better than 7.84m of Sreeshankar.
Under rules, if two jumpers are tied on same distance, the one who has a better second best effort will be ranked ahead.
Jovan van Vuuren (8.06m) of South Africa took the Bronze.
The other Indian in the fray, Muhammed Anees Yahiya ended at fifth with a best jump of 7.97m.
Sreeshankar's became the first Indian male long jumper to win a Silver at the CWG. Suresh Babu had won a Bronze in the 1978 edition.
Among women, Prajusha Maliakkal won a Silver in the 2010 edition in Delhi, while legendary Anju Bobby George bagged a Bronze in 2002.
Sreeshankar had gone into CWG as Gold medal favourite on the basis of his season's and personal best of 8.36m, which had put him in joint second ranking in the world this season.
But he struggled in his first four jumps regarding his landing on the foot board. He began with a 7.64m before jumping identical 7.84m in his second and third attempts. His fourth jump was a foul.
He was outside the medal contention at the end of the fourth round as he was at sixth place at that stage but his fifth attempt of 8.08m took him to the second place.
In a dramatic final round jump, he seemed to have crossed the 8m mark -- which would have given him a gold -- but to his and the Indian contingent's disappointment, his foot landed 2cm ahead of the line on the foot board.
The final attempt was thus ruled as a foul and Sreeshankar had to settle for a Silver.
On Wednesday, Tejaswin Shankar had won a Bronze in men's high jump to open India's medal account in athletics in this CWG.
It was Sreeshankar's first medal in a major international competition and a multi-sport event. Before this, he had won a Bronze in the 2018 Asian U-20 Championships in Gifu, Japan.
The medal will give him some sort of relief after his disappointing performance in the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA, where he had finished seventh in the final last month.
He had gone into the World Championships as a dark horse for a medal with a season's and personal best of 8.36m.
Rues missing gold
Commonwealth Games Silver medallist long jumper Murali Sreeshankar rued missing out on a Gold, saying his fourth jump, which was ruled a foul under laser-based new technology, would have been legal in earlier system and big enough to finish on top of the podium.
The 23-year-old Sreeshankar said he initially thought he had a big valid jump in his fourth attempt which would have given him a Gold. However, his jump was adjudged a foul under the new system.
"I was very surprised, you can't call it (fourth jump) a foul because I never overstepped the foul board but she (pit-side official) explained to me the exact jumping position, movement of my foot which was crossing the perpendicular plate," Sreeshankar said in a virtual interaction.
"If it was the previous system which we had in past years, it would not have been called a foul," said the national record holder (8.36m).
He said the conditions during the CWG long jump final was not ideal as it was a bit cold and windy.
"Performance on the particular day matters. In major championships, winning a medal is the priority.
"I completely messed up the first three jumps, trying to have safe jumps (by leaving good gap). My focus after that was to be on podium with good jumps in final three attempts."