Before the beginning of the season, Tejaswin Shankar took the daring step of switching from top bounce to decathlon in his try to qualify for the Asian Games. Having gained the top bounce bronze ultimately yr’s Commonwealth Games, sticking to his puppy match would had been an more straightforward manner out. But Tejaswin sought after to check himself within the grueling self-discipline.
The ends up in the ultimate two competitions display he’s not off course. At the inter-state championships in Bhubaneswar ultimate month, Tejaswin gained gold logging 7576 issues in searing warmth to qualify for the September-October Hangzhou Games. Within a month, he was once once more at the podium on the Bangkok Asian Championships, profitable bronze (7527).
Come the Asian Games, there’s no reason Tejaswin cannot hope to complete with a medal. He is these days fourth in Asia in decathlon (7648 issues accomplished in an match in US) with China’s Sun Qihao (7852) the season’s chief.
“Starting this year, I have seen improvements in each event. Discus, pole vault and javelin were my weakest events. At the inter-state competition, I saw an improvement in javelin and pole vault and at the Asian Championships I improved in discus. So, it’s all coming together,” said Tejaswin.
“It’s just a matter of putting all those pieces together during the competition. It comes with time and practice. At the Asian Games I am hoping to put all that together and score higher. With a couple of months left, it will give me time to recover and return fresh.”
The fact that Tejaswin has come close this season to breaking the long-standing national record (Bharatinder Singh, 7658 points in 2011) shows how fast he has progressed. He says the record is at the back of his mind at every event. His national high jump record is 2.29m.
“It will happen when it has to happen. I am just trying to go through each event and get as much experience because I am still new to the event – only a year old. My competitors are doing it for so many years. Managing 10 events, knowing your strengths it all takes time.
For Tejaswin, things are falling into place. In his weakest events, he did well at the last two competitions.
“Doing inter-state was helpful because I was able to see where I went wrong. I realized that even though I didn’t do well in my stronger events (jumps), I was able to pick up points in my weaker events (throws). To do well in javelin, pole vault and discus, was a big relief.”
Decathlon competition, spread over two days, comprises 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m on Day 1 and 110m hurdles, discus, pole-vault, javelin and 1,500m on the second day.
In Bhubaneswar, he had a personal best in javelin throw of 52.32m. He improved it to 52.70m in Bangkok. In discus, he went from 35.96m to 38.14m. In pole vault, the most technical of events, he cleared 4m at inter-state. In high jump though, he cleared only 2.14m in Bangkok after going over 2.20m in Bhubaneswar.
“Before the Asian Games, if I can go 4.10, 4.20m in pole vault, I will not lose a lot of points there. Shot put is the one event where I declined drastically compared to inter-stare (13.04m to 12.39m). I have to keep that range in 13-14m. In discus, 38-40m is going to give me good points. I am well aware that high jump is my bread and butter and If I can rack up 2.20-2.22m in competition, I need not worry much.”
“I think I’m turning into a well-rounded decathlete. I’m pondering like a decathlete. It’s a clean transition.”