It was a prestige issue for the 19-year old, forced to participate in the ongoing 22nd Federation Cup athletics meet here for a shot at the Commonwealth Games despite recent excellence and being the National record-holder with a mark that was already better than what the federation expected.
Tejaswin Shankar did it in style on Wednesday, setting new records en route and proving he was the best high jumper in the country by a fair distance. The Delhi youngster cleared 2.28m to set a new National record, bettering his own mark of 2.26m set two years ago.
Having arrived in the city only a week ago after a gruelling 24-hour flight and a hectic season on the US collegiate circuit, Tejaswin narrowly missed the 2.31-mark that would have been good enough for a CWG gold four years ago.
“All top athletes do all this travelling routinely. I am not one yet but these are learning experiences. One of the reasons for me coming here was also to test my consistency. Now that I have done this mark twice in quick succession, I have no excuse to not do it again at the CWG.
“For me, winning a National championship is like an ego booster bigger than anything else so I am not unhappy with missing the 2.31m mark, it will happen. I am looking at that and above, no set target though,” Tejaswin said.
Siddharth and Suriya also make it
Siddharth Yadav cleared 2.25m for silver and another CWG spot. The 24-year old from Pataudi near Delhi was participating in only his second competitive meet in four years, and second since he set a new meet record of 2.23m at the 2017 Open Nationals in Chennai.
Incidentally, Tejaswin’s 2.28m equalled the best performances in the world this season while Yadav’s mark is the second best in the world!
Also making the cut for the CWG was L. Suriya, who bettered the meet record with an impressive 32:23:96 in the 10,000m after narrowly missing out on in the 5000m. The qualifying guideline was set at 32:30:00.
The results: Men:Discus: 1. Dharamraj Yadav 55.35m, 2. Kirpal Singh 54.51, 3. S. Mithravarun 54.28m; High jump: 1. Tejaswin Shankar 2.28m, 2. Siddharth Yadav 2.25, 3. C. Sreenish 2.14; 10,000m: 1. Govindan Lakshmanan 29:31.72s, 2. Gavit Murli 29:33.85, 3. Abhishek Pal 29:34.47.
Women: Triple jump: 1. N.V. Sheena 13.31m, 2. Renu 13.22, 3. M.A. Siva Anbarasi 12.95; Javelin: 1. Annu Rani 57.37m, 2. Pushpa Jakhar 53.70, 3. Sharmila Kumar 53.53; Pole vault: 1. V.S. Surekha 3.90m, 2. Khyati Vakharia 3.80, 3. Krishna Rachan 3.70; 10,000m: 1. L. Suriya 32:23.96s, 2. Sanjeevani Jadhav 33:36.49, 3. Swati Gadhave 33:47.02 .
