Tejaswin Shankar Forced Out of High Jump, Eyes Decathlon Glory

After injury-forced exit from high jump, Tejaswin Shankar shifts focus to Decathlon

New Delhi, July 28

After injury-forced exit from high jump, Tejaswin Shankar shifts focus to Decathlon

New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) After an injury scare forced Tejswain Shankar's high jump campaign to last for only one attempt, the track and field athlete was left to tears while revealing that he felt shooting pain in his knee before his second jump and decided to stop as a precautionary measure to recover well for the decathlon event, starting on Thursday.

Birmingham 2022 bronze medallist Tejaswin withdrew after appearing to injure himself during his opening unsuccessful attempt at 2.05m. He is also entered in the decathlon and hoping to have recovered to compete in it.

Tejaswin noted that the injury was especially ill-timed, as he had arrived in Glasgow fully confident in his ability to claim another Commonwealth Games medal.

"In my second jump, I felt a shooting pain in my knee. So, it's not a new injury, but I've always had tendonitis in my knee. But sometimes it's just what it is. And it's a key that the day you need it the most, that day you have to face such an injury. And then it happened to me in my warm-up only," the emotional Tejaswin told IANS.

"In my second attempt, in the second attempt of my warm-up, that's when I felt that stabbing pain. After that, I was really fighting to try and... Between my warm-ups and my actual first competition jump, the idea was to try and give myself that opportunity that... Can I stay positive? Can I do it? Because I knew this is the condition," he revealed.

"I mean, this is the condition that I thrive in. I like such conditions, tricky conditions. My body responds to cold and when it rains. When everyone is afraid of those conditions, those are my conditions. And I was so positive, so excited to go and compete today. But... That's why it happens sometimes," Tejaswin explained.

Tejaswin revealed he chose to stop competing after his initial jump as a precautionary measure and is viewing the two-day gap before his next event as a crucial window for recovery as he remains determined deliver a strong score when the competition resumes.

"But I think the good thing is I still have two days before the start of my decathlon. So, that's why I decided to stop after my first jump. Because I don't want to ruin the next event that I have.

"And that's, again, another opportunity. And until I don't stop or until that event doesn't break me, until I don't give up, I'm going to go and use the next two days. Two days to kind of recover and fix this problem. And try and see what we can do. And then try and put out a big score in two days' time," he said.

Sarvesh Kushare, who broke Tejaswin Shankar's eight-year-old national record with a 2.31m leap at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar last month, cleared 2.25m before three unsuccessful attempts at 2.28m saw him settle for silver medal

Despite his own injury setback, he stayed back at the venue and helped his compatriot Kushare, who bettered Tejaswin's 2022 performance with a silver.

"Kudos to Sarvesh for managing these conditions. He did very well. And India's first medal I track and feed. I think that's something huge that we should all cherish and congratulate him," he added.

Tejaswin is the national record holder in decathlon and has won an Asian Games silver besides two Asian Championships medals in the gruelling discipline.

He is also the first Indian to breach in the 8000 points mark in the 10-event competition which is considered the most demanding in athletics.

— IANS