Tejaswin wins gold at NCAA meet

New Delhi, May 16

Indian high jumper Tejaswin Shankar has claimed gold at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Manhattan, USA.

Representing the Kansas State University, Shankar cleared 2.28 metres on Saturday, making a facility record.

It was also a season-best performance for the Indian but a centimetre short of his personal best and the current national record of 2.29m which he created in 2018.

University of Oklahoma’s Vernon Turner (2.25m) and Texas Tech University’s Jequan Hogan (2.11m) claimed the silver and bronze respectively.

This was Shankar’s second successive gold at the event. He claimed the top honours in 2019 as well while the event could not be held in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shankar has not qualified for this year’s Olympic Games. His personal best is 2.29m is 4cm short of the Olympics qualification mark of 2.33m.

Earlier this year, he had declared that April onwards, he would “put all my focus and energy towards high jump qualification” for the Tokyo Olympics. “I will have three solid months to focus on jumping at a high level, that’s when I plan to make the mark,” he said.

The 22-year-old has been in the US since 2017 when he joined the Kansas State University to pursue a course in business administration on a scholarship. — TNS, agencies