NEW DELHI: Tejaswin Shankar’s own Commonwealth Games campaign ended in heartbreak, but the Indian jumper has ensured that his disappointment will not stop a teammate from making history.The national record holder, forced out of the men’s high jump competition by a recurring knee injury, was brought back to the venue to lead the compatriot. Sarvesh Kushare from the margins. The advice proved decisive as Kushare overcame an unlucky start to clinch the silver medal – India’s best result in the event at the Commonwealth Games.Tejaswin had won a historic bronze at the 2022 Birmingham Games, the country’s first medal in the high jump at the Commonwealth Games. On Monday, however, the 27-year-old’s title hopes were announced before they had really begun.
From the medal contender to the coach to the band
Tejaswin had severe pain in his knee during the warm-up and was unable to continue after clearing only his opening height.Instead of leaving the arena, I stood next to the competition area, carefully watching Kushare’s attempts and offering technical inputs that helped the Indian recover after struggling midway through the event.Kushare revealed that Tejaswin’s timely advice transformed his competition.“I wanted to clear the height in my first attempt itself, but during 2.25m my pace was affected and my stride became shorter. So TJ told me to go ahead in my run-up, and that helped,” Kushare said after winning the silver.The medal bettered Tejaswin’s bronze-winning effort from Birmingham and marked India’s best Commonwealth Games finish in the men’s high jump.
“Really Pizza”
A visibly emotional Tejaswin admitted the injury struck at the worst possible time.“I felt a pain in my knee. It happened during my warm-up. It’s nothing new; I’ve always had tendinitis in my knees,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a high jumper who doesn’t have it. That’s why it’s called jumper’s knee. Everyone manages it, and so do I.”The timing of the flare-up made the disappointment even harder to accept.“But it’s one of those days. You only want one day in a year when you don’t have that pain, but it came on that day alone. It really stings. In these conditions, I was really confident that I could jump for a victory, jump for a medal. I really knew that I could win a medal,” he said. “But to not even pass the first height, it stings because I was in really great shape.”Explaining the problem further, he added: “It’s just overuse of the patellar tendon. There is nothing spectacular. It crashed today and ruined my whole competition.”
Eyes now on the return of decathlon
Despite the setback, Tejaswin has not given up on her Commonwealth Games campaign.The versatile athlete remains optimistic he will recover in time for the decathlon, which starts on Thursday.“I’ll be back in two days. We still have two days. I’ll do my best over the next two days and try to fix this. Obviously I’ll start. I’m not here on vacation,” he said. “The patellar tendon is used in the high jump and the long jump, so if I’m somehow able to get through those two events, I’m still confident that the other events will be fine.”Tejaswin is also the national record holder in the decathlon.