Commonwealth Games 2018: Tejaswin Shankar will head to Gold Coast having set the national record in March.
Name: Tejaswin Shankar
Event: Athletics (High Jump)
Commonwealth Games Experience: Debut
Best performance: Gold medal in 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games
19-year-old Tejaswin Shankar will be participating in the high-jump category at the Commonwealth Games this year. Shankar, who hails from South Delhi’s Saket area and is a Virender Sehwag fan by his own admission, qualified for the Commonwealth Games by eclipsing his personal best of 2.26 meters by recording a jump of 2.28 meters at the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships.
In 2017, the youngster also secured a four-year athletic scholarship with the Kansas State Universit. But his first notable achievement was at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Apia. At the age of 17, Shankar turned heads by slamming the national record of 2.25 meters and registering his own jump of 2.26 meters at the Junior National Championships in Coimbatore. From thereon there was no looking back for Shankar as he won silver at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati.
However, tragedy struck last year when the youngster was injured due to a slipped disc and could not even move properly. But showing great determination made a return to the field in January this year and made his way to the Commonwealth Games. Hopefully, he can cap it off with a podium finish at the Gold Coast.