Picture Credit: Twitter
Tejaswin Shankar finished the 1500m race, which served as the last event of the decathlon at the Inter-State Athletics Championships on Saturday, June 17. The Delhi-athlete finished the decathlon in style, winning a gold along with qualifying for the upcoming Asians Games.
The 24-year-old Shankar participated in only his third decathlon of his career, but in the demanding 10-event tournament fought over two days, he racked up 7576 points to surpass the Asian Games qualifying threshold of 7500 points.
During this week's Inter-State meet, the Delhi athlete additionally set up three personal records in the high jump, pole vault, and discus throw. Tejaswin was competing in his maiden decathlon on Indian soil after returning from a six-year spell in the US. In the US earlier this year, he finished the decathlon with 7,648 points, just 10 points shy of the record.
The 24-year-old expressed gratitude for his win stating, “I don’t think I would have been able to push through in the 1500m event if it wasn’t for the others in the race. I dedicate this medal to all the decathletes who participated in this weather. I don’t deserve this gold, they do. If I could divide my medals into 18 parts and give them to all the participants, I would.”
Praveen Chithravel, Abdulla Aboobacker, and Eldhose Paul, the top three competitors in the men's triple jump competition, crossed the finish line in that order after each athlete passed the 16.60m Asian Games qualification mark.
In the women's pole vault, Pavithra Venkatesh's winning height of 4.10m met the requirement. Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) and Jesse Sandesh (Karnataka) finished first and second in the men's high jump by clearing 2.24m, which was the qualifying height.
