Achieving personal bests in three decathlon events, high jump (2.20m), pole vault (4m) and javelin (52.32), in draining conditions to score 7,576 points at the 62nd National inter-State athletics championship in Bhubaneswar and qualify for the Asian Games spoke a lot about Tejaswin Shankar’s potential in inarguably the toughest discipline in athletics.
Trying to make a mark in the grueling multi-discipline sport, Tejaswin, who wishes to be the ‘torch-bearer of decathlon’ in the country, missed out on Bharatinder Singh’s 2011 National record of 7,658 by 10 points to experience a so-near-yet-so-far moment at the Jim Click shootout competition in Arizona, the USA, in April.
Tejaswin wanted to achieve it in his first decathlon outing in the country during the inter-State meet, but in testing conditions he smartly chose to settle for the immediate target of qualifying for the Asian Games. He also put all doubts to rest about his capability of competing well in the Asian championships in Bangkok, which will also be hot and humid, next month.
