NEW DELHI: Tejaswin Shankar’s Commonwealth Games campaign ended in disappointment, but India’s high jumper made sure his disappointment did not stop a teammate from making history.The national record holder, who was forced to withdraw from the men’s high jump competition due to repeated knee injuries, returned to the venue to lead his compatriots. Sarvesh Kushare from the edge. The advice proved decisive as Kushare overcame a shaky start to clinch the silver medal – India’s best ever result at a Commonwealth Games event.Tejaswin won a historic bronze at the 2022 Birmingham Games, the country’s first medal in the Commonwealth Games high jump. On Monday, however, the 27-year-old’s title hopes were dashed before they really got started.
From medal contender to coach on the sidelines
Tejaswin experienced severe pain in his knee during the warm-up and was unable to continue after only clearing his opening height.Instead of leaving the arena, he remained near the competition venue, watching Kushare’s attempts closely and offering technical inputs that helped the Indian bounce back after struggling midway through the event.Kushare revealed that Tejaswin’s timely advice changed his competitiveness.“I wanted to clear the height in my first attempt itself, but at 2.25m my rhythm was affected and my stride became shorter. Then TJ told me to continue with my run-up, and that helped,” said Kushare after winning the silver.The medal improved on Tejaswin’s bronze-winning effort from Birmingham and marked India’s best Commonwealth Games finish in the men’s high jump.
“really sick”
An visibly emotional Tejaswin admitted that the injury had struck at the worst possible moment.“I felt a shooting pain in my knee. It happened during my warm-up. It’s not new; I always have tendonitis in my knees,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any high jumper that doesn’t have it. That’s why it’s called jumper’s knee. Everybody handles it, and so do I.”The timing of the flare-up made the disappointment even harder to accept.“But this is one of those days. You want one day a year when you don’t have that pain, but it comes on that day. It really hurts. In these conditions, I’m really confident that I can jump for a victory, jump for a medal. I really know that I can win a medal,” he said. “But not even getting past the first height, it hurts because I’m in really good shape.”Explaining the issue further, he added: “It’s overuse of the patellar tendon. There is nothing unusual about it. It just flared up today and ruined my entire competition. “
Eyes now on the return of the decathlon
Despite the setback, Tejaswin did not give up on his Commonwealth Games campaign.The versatile athlete remains hopeful of recovering in time for the decathlon, which starts on Thursday.“I will be back in two days. We have two more days. I will give my best in the next two days and try and fix it. Obviously I will start. I am not here on vacation,” he said. “The patellar tendon is used in the long jump and long jump, so if I can get those two events, I’m still confident that the other events will be good.”Tejaswin is also the national record holder in decathlon.