Tuesday, April, 24, 2018
  • Nation
  • World
  • States
  • Cities
  • Business
  • Sport
    • IPL
    • Commonwealth Games 2018
  • Entertainment
  • Galleries
  • Videos
  • Life Style
  • Specials
  • Opinions
  • All Sections  
    States Tamil Nadu Kerala Karnataka Andhra Pradesh Telangana Odisha
    Cities Chennai DelhiBengaluru Hyderabad Kochi Thiruvananthapuram
    Nation World Business Sport Cricket Football Tennis Other Education
    Entertainment English Hindi Kannada Malayalam Tamil Telugu Review Galleries Videos
    Auto Life style Tech Health Travel Food Books Spirituality
    Opinions Editorials Ask Prabhu Columns Prabhu Chawla T J S George S Gurumurthy Ravi Shankar Shankkar Aiyar Shampa Dhar-Kamath Karamatullah K Ghori
    Today's Paper Edex Indulge Event Xpress Magazine The Sunday Standard E-paper
Home Sport Other

Despite career-threatening injury, Tejaswin Shankar sets meet record

By Aneesh Srinivasan  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 18th July 2017 09:43 AM  |  

Last Updated: 18th July 2017 10:05 AM  |   A+A A-   |  

0

Share Via Email

Tejaswin Shankar taking a selfie with ground staff after his win. | P Ravidra Babu

GUNTUR: Tejaswin Shankar, 18, from Delhi was hoping to break the men’s high jump record of 2.3m at the National Inter-State Sports Meet in Guntur on Monday. He couldn’t, as his effort of 2.23m earned him a consolatory meet-best mark instead. That’s not the whole story, though. There was rain when he competed. That, and him being bedridden from January to June after suffering a slip disc. After reading this, a temptation to scratch out “consolatory” from the second line and replace it with “valiant” wouldn’t be unwarranted.      

“I am just recovering from a slip disc. I was bed-ridden for six months from January to June. There have been times when I thought I couldn’t make it here. But here I am, all smiles and I could break the meet record of 2.23m. My sponsors JSW Sports and coach had faith in me. If not for them I would still have been bed-ridden. My coach believes that I can jump even if am missing a leg,” he said. “An athlete’s life is generally considered over once he/she has an injury as severe as mine.”

“While leaving my hotel room, I was cursing the rain gods as it was raining continuously. I was really hoping to break the national record and was very apprehensive of how I’d do it due to the rains.”

Ask him about what expectations he had from this competition and he says that he had four goals before coming here- to get a gold medal, break the meet record, break the national record and lastly to jump 2.3m.
“Am elated that I could achieve the first two. It’s not like I didn’t try for the others, I just couldn’t break the national record and jump 2.3 metres as it was raining. But, I cannot crib as the conditions were the same for everyone,” he said with a slight disappointment in his voice. “My personal best is 2.26 metres which I have managed to break today.” 

Speaking of familial support, grief could be seen in his eyes as he said: “My dad died when I was young. My mom made me what I am. She has taken care of my sister, my grandma and I. They have been the ones who have taken care of me. I am the exact opposite of the quintessential alpha male.”

Stay up to date on all the latest Sport news with The New Indian Express App. Download now
TAGS
Tejaswin Shankar

O
P
E
N

More from this section

Faith Restored, time to tick more Boxes

Sankar Muthusamy, Karan Rajan are Chennai District Badminton Association's Players of the Year

Anas to run ahead without wingman

Latest

Just after attending wife's funeral, George HW Bush hospitalised

Saudi Arabia intercepts 2 missiles fired towards border city Jazan

Raghuram Rajan may be in running for Bank of England governor

Hyderabad: Engg student runs car over man sleeping on footpath

New industrial policy finalised, to be announced soon: Suresh Prabhu

Armenia's leader Sargsyan quits amid protests

IPL2018
Videos
The members of DMK and its allied parties formed a human chain urging the central government to constitute CMB at Tallakulam in Madurai. | Express photo
Cauvery issue: DMK and other parties create human chain to protest
Canada's public safety minister Ralph Goodale on Monday said the nature of a deadly incident in Toronto where the driver of a white van ran over numerous pedestrians was not yet fully defined.
Canada says nature of Toronto van incident not yet fully clear
arrow
Gallery
Blood-stained national ID papers of a woman and voters' photos are seen on the ground outside a voter registration center, after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 22, 2018. Gen. Daud Amin, the Kabul police chief, said the suicide bombe
IN PICTURES | Massive Islamic State suicide bomb attack at Kabul voter registration centre leaves over 50 dead
Priests pray during a ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, April 22, 2018. (AP)
Pope Francis ordains 16 priests at Vatican, tells them always 'be merciful'
arrow

Trending

FOLLOW US

Copyright - newindianexpress.com 2018

Dinamani | Kannada Prabha | Samakalika Malayalam | Malayalam Vaarika | Indulgexpress | Edex Live | Cinema Express | Event Xpress

Contact Us | About Us | Careers | Privacy Policy | Search | Terms of Use | Advertise With Us

Home | Nation | World | Cities | Business | Columns | Entertainment | Sport | Magazine | The Sunday Standard