When was the last time an Indian high jumper won a medal at the Commonwealth Games? Never!
Canada’s Olympic champion Derek Drouin may be missing but Indian record holder Tejaswin Shankar will have to handle a very interesting bunch as he gets ready to tackle this piece of history.
Tejaswin, who heads the outdoor World list this season with his 2.28m at the Federation Cup, has three others — Malaysian Hup Wei Lee, Bahamas’ Jamal Wilson and Australian Brandon Starc — for company at the top. All of them are from the Commonwealth!
So, is Tejaswin a favourite? A peep into the indoor world reveals that four from the Commonwealth — Bahamas’ Donald Thomas, Jamal Wilson (both 2.31m) Great Britain’s Robbie Grabarz (2.30), and Canadian Django Lovett (2.29) — have better jumps than the 19-year-old Indian this year.
Tejaswin trains in USA along with 2012 Olympics silver medallist Erik Kynard but Hup Wei and another Malaysian, Nauraj Singh Randhawa, are very familiar with Australian conditions. Tejaswin has set his sights on breaking the 2.30m barrier at Gold Coast and with that sort of goal, the high jump pit will virtually be on fire.
