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.
The big takeaway for Tejaswin’s inter-State performance was that he rose to the challenge after getting a less-than-satisfactory result on the first day of his competition. He pushed himself to win the title.
“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. I am a solid day one guy. Day one events are all well-suited for me and I score a lot of points but that’s where I lacked in this meet which was a new challenge for me. I have not performed badly on day one before. On day two, all my weak events are there. I usually play catch up on day two events after performing well on day one. That’s why I was really happy that I was able to step up and pull my day two score,” said Tejaswin.
No wonder that Tejaswin, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist who specialises in high jump and has a personal best of 2.29m, valued his high jump showing at the Kalinga Stadium as it boosted him on a below-par day one.
“There are so many things going on. So personal best in a dedicated event is different, PB in decathlon is different.”
Like a golfer remembering minute details of his game on every hole, Tejaswin passionately spoke about his 10 events, especially pole vault and javelin on the second day.
“Pole vault was one where I felt I needed to do something. Kudos to Siva (Subramani) bhaiya. He was my coach at the vault, he was helping me from the sidelines. Because it’s one of the most technical events not just because there’s an extra implement outside of your body, which is the pole. To know the adjustments between high jump and pole vault, you need to understand it like a physics problem. There were some minor adjustments which I needed to do (which I did), thanks to Siva. To jump 4m here was an outright personal best for me.
“Pole vault really gave me the motivation that something special can happen today. I was expecting 47-48m in javelin because my best was 46.84m. Throwing 49m in my first attempt, then 51m and 52m in my last attempts gave me a good cushion going into the (last event) 1500m.”
Tejaswin was reconciled to the fact that he could not go for the National record. “I can still make the NR in future. It’s best to break the NR by over 100 points instead of just by 10 points.”
The amiable 24-year-old, who spent the last few years in the USA, sought Army coach and former National record-holder Kulwinder Singh’s inputs during the competition and won over fellow-athletes to get the much-needed push from them.
“Tejaswin is a gifted athlete. He is the bahubali (strongman) of Indian athletics. After Bhartinder Singh, he is the second Indian athlete to cross 7500 points and has the potential to score 8000-plus points and even win an Olympic medal,” said Kulwinder, who broke a 33-year-old National record in 2000 and coached Bhartinder.
“His competitions in the USA and here are different. Over there, because of the weather, they begin the competition during the afternoon and end it by the evening. Here, since the events were split between morning and evening sessions, the recovery time was less.”
Kulwinder said Tejaswin needed to correct some technical faults. “It’s not easy to perfect the technical side in 10 events as one event’s techniques creep into another.”
“I believe I am a big work in progress with so many opportunities to improve,” agreed Tejaswin.
The affable Delhi lad, who overcame a bleeding nose and an unstable ankle to take the title, imported the culture of camaraderie among fellow-decathletes from the USA to India and dedicated his win to his co-competitors. His posing for photographs with all competitors, after taking off their shirts, in the Arizona and the Kalinga Stadium has a striking resemblance.
“In the end, we end up creating camaraderie among us. Paseene mein bhi hum hug karte hai (We hug each other through all the sweat). On the first day, we didn’t know each other’s names, but now we have forged (such) a friendship that someone ruined his own race so that I can qualify. That’s the spirit of decathlon. That’s why everybody should tune in and watch decathlon.
“If I could, I would break the medal into 18 equal pieces and give it to them. I hope, at least, I could have a picture with them and I hope you (media) use that picture and not use mine alone,” said Tejaswin, dedicating his gold to his co-competitors.
Kulwinder is impressed with Tejaswin’s stamina. “Look at that picture of all the athletes, his physique is as good as that of one-and-a-half of his fellow-athletes. If he wants to train with us at the Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune, he is most welcome. After all, the Indian Army wants to win medals for the country,” said Kulwinder.
As Tajaswin gears up for the upcoming big events, including the Asian Games, athletics lovers will keenly track the progress of this spirited athlete.
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