Bhubaneswar: Competing in only his third decathlon of career, Tejaswin Shankar of Delhi breached the Asian Games qualifying mark en route winning the gold to steal the limelight on the third day of the National Inter-State Athletics Championship here on Saturday. Swapna Barman of Madhya Pradesh won the gold in the women's heptathlon and also went past the Asian Games qualifying mark of 5654 aggregate points by gathering 5918 points in the combined seven events over the two days.
Agasara Nandini of Telangana also breached the Asian Games qualifying mark by aggregating 5703 points. Gold winner in 100m, Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh added 100m hurdles title to her kitty with a timing of 12.92 seconds as 12 athletes achieved the Asian Games qualifying mark. The Asian Games qualifying time for women's 100m hurdles is 13.63 seconds.
The day also witnessed an unfortunate incident as triple jumper Akhilesh of Karnataka suffered a nasty injury on his right leg -- his front shin bone badly broken -- during take off after the first jump and was taken to a local hospital in an ambulance. The 24-year-old Shankar accumulated 7576 points to go past the Asian Games qualifying mark of 7500 points in the gruelling 10-event competition fought over two days on Friday and Saturday.
Rajasthan's Yamandeep Sharma was a distant second with 7165 aggregate points while Gokul S of Kerala took the bronze with 6937 points. The five events of 100m dash, long jump, shot out, high jump and 400m were held on day one, followed by 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin and 1500m race on day two.
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Shankar had won a high jump bronze in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He began competing in combined events on a wager with his Kansas State college teammate in the USA. He was also encouraged by his Kansas State University coach to try out events other than high jump. Before Saturday, he had competed at Big 12 Conference Championships at Lubbock, USA in May last year and accumulated 7592 points.
In April this year, he aggregated 7648 points at the Jim Click Shootout meet in Arizona, USA. Shankar competed with a taped ankle on the first day. But he led day one with 4209 points from the first five events, taking most points of 992 from his specialised event of high jump with a 2.20m effort.
He consolidated the lead by adding 3367 points on Saturday with a win in 110m hurdles. "I am not complaining, it's tough weather but we have to compete and we have to win. I will not take any credit, if the other decathletes did not push me in the 1500m (last event) and completed the race below the required time, I would not have won. I would want to break my gold into several pieces and share it with all the other competitors," he said later.
"There was camaraderie among the competitors. We hug each other even with a lot of sweat on our bodies. I made friends in these two days with the guys whom I didn't even know earlier. They sacrificed their event for me. That is the spirit of decathlon. I dedicate this win to all the other competitors. I don't deserve the gold, all these guys deserved it."
He finished fourth in the 1500m -- the last of the 10 events -- with a time of 4 minutes 38.49 seconds. "I had calculated that I have to run below 4 minute 40 seconds in the 1500m if I have to qualify for the Asian Games. I achieved that not because I was capable of but because of my co-competitors. Each one of them said that they have to push this guy (Shankar) to finish on time. One guy was running with me all the time in the race only to push me ahea," he said.
He said he was initially thinking of breaking the national record but he knew after the first event of 100m dash that he would not be able to do it. "During high jump (on day one), I had some ankle issues but I cleared 2.20m and that boosted my confidence." Shankar said that national record holder S Siva of Tamil Nadu helped him by "coaching" him from the sidelines on Saturday.
"Pole vault was an event I wanted to do well and national record holder Siva was my coach. He was helping from the sidelines and telling me how to plant the pole. Pole vault is a technical event, so he helped me," he said. For Yarraji, she was not happy with her time as she wanted to break the 12.90s barrier.
"I wanted to break the 12.90 seconds barrier. But I fumbled at the third hurdle, which spoiled my rhythm and I missed my goal today," said Yarraji, who holds the national record of 12.82s. In men's high jump, Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) and Jesse Sandesh (Karnataka) celebrated by equalling the Asian Games qualifying mark of 2.24m.
However, Sarvesh Anil Kushare was the winner, while Jesse Sandesh finished second. In the men's triple jump event, national record holder Praveen Chithravel (17.07m) of Tamil Nadu, Abdulla Aboobacker (16.88m) of Kerala and 2022 CWG gold winner Eldhose Paul (16.75m), also of Kerala, finished first, second and third respectively as all of them breached the Asian Games qualification mark of 16.60m. (PTI)
