TEJASWIN SHANKAR - THE HIGH JUMP PRODIGY

At 14 , Tejaswin Shankar wanted to be a fast bowler. In fact, he did play for his school cricket team. But then Sunil Kumar Patial, the physical education teacher in his school, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, in Delhi, got him attracted to athletics. And the rest,is history. Now Tejaswin Shankar holds the national high jump record (2.26 metres) for seniors.

At the age of 18 years Tejaswin Shankar smashed a decade-old Meet Record to claim the men’s High Jump gold at the National Inter State Championships in Guntur on Monday. The 18- year old jumpes 2.23 metres in heavy rain and breaks Harishankar Roy’s meet record and finish ahead of Karnataka’s Chetan B (2.19 m) and Haryana’s Ajay Kumar (2.17 m).

This is not the first time the Delhi athlete has achieved such a feat. At the age of 17, he bettered Roy’s senior National Record with a 2.26 meter effort in Coimbatore.

After the National record feat Tejaswin suffered Injury and went into rehab with the support of JSW SPORTS. They have been supporting him through the journey. 

“I am  recovering from a slip disc. I was bed-ridden from January to June. There have been times when I thought I couldn’t make it here. But here I am, I could break the meet record of 2.23 m. I thank 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.

Speaking to Media after the event on Monday, Tejaswin said, “Coming back from an injury I am feeling much better now. Before coming to this championship I had set a goal of 2.30m which is also the qualification mark for the IAAF World Championships to be held in London next month. It was raining heavily here in Guntur and I am a little disappointed I could not reach 2.30 m. But overall I am happy I was able to break meet record, I was well prepared for this competition”.

Due to a back injury, the young athlete from Delhi had to miss 22nd Asian Athletics Championships held in Bhubaneswar earlier this month.

On a rail spoiled day Tejaswin target was 2.30 m which is qualification mark for London World athletics championship. He missed it, but he was happy for the comeback.

YouTube Link of Tejaswin Jump

https://youtu.be/BwbL57TxMbI

On day he is surely gonna Make us Proud! GO TEJASWIN!