New Delhi: Tejaswin Shankar’s own Commonwealth Games journey ended in heartbreak, but the Indian high jumper ensured that his disappointment did not stop his teammates from creating history.The national record holder, who was forced to withdraw from the men’s high jump due to a recurring knee injury, stayed on to coach his compatriots Savish Kushara From the side. The advice proved decisive as Kushale overcame a shaky start to claim silver – India’s best result at the Commonwealth Games.Tejaswin won a historic bronze medal at Birmingham 2022, the country’s first medal in the high jump at the Commonwealth Games. But on Monday, the 27-year-old’s title hopes were dashed before they even began.
From medal contender to sideline coach
Tejaswin suffered severe pain in his knee during the warm-up and was unable to continue the match after only completing the opening height.Instead of leaving the field, he stayed in the sidelines, keeping a close eye on Kushale’s attempts and providing technical input to help the Indian recover after he got into trouble mid-game.Kushare revealed that Tejaswin’s timely advice transformed his competition.“I wanted to clear the height in my first attempt, but during the 2.25m, my rhythm suffered and my stride got shorter. Then TJ told me to move forward in my run-up, which helped,” Kushale said after winning the silver medal.The medal improved on Tejaswin’s bronze in Birmingham and marked India’s best-ever Commonwealth Games performance in the men’s high jump.
“Really stings”
A visibly emotional Tejaswin admitted the injury happened at the worst possible moment.“I felt a twinge in my knee. It happened when I was warming up. It’s nothing new; I’ve always had tendonitis in my knee,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any high jumper who doesn’t have this ability. That’s why it’s called jumper’s knee. Everybody can do it, and so can I.”The timing of the outburst made the disappointment even harder to swallow.“But those were those days. You wish you didn’t have that pain one day a year, but it only comes that day. It really stings. In this case, I was really confident that I could jump for the win, jump for the medal. I really knew I could win a medal,” he said. “But I didn’t even get through the first height, which hurt me because I was in really good shape.”He further explained the problem, adding: “It’s just overuse of the patellar tendon. There’s nothing amazing about this. It broke out today and ruined my entire game. “
Now eyeing the return of the decathlon
Despite the setback, Tejaswin has not given up on his Commonwealth Games campaign.The versatile athlete remains optimistic about recovering in time for the decathlon, which begins on Thursday.“I’ll be back in two days. We’ve got two more days. I’m going to do my best over the next two days and try to figure this out. I’ll obviously start. I’m not here for a vacation,” he said. “The patellar tendon is used in the high jump and long jump, so if I can somehow do those two events, I’m still confident that the other events will be fine as well.”Tejaswin is also the national record holder in the decathlon.
