National high jump record holder and decathlete Tejaswin Shankar made a rare appearance in the men’s 110m hurdles event at the Indian Open Athletics Meet at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Competing in his first standalone 110m hurdles event in a long while, Tejaswin placed seventh. He also featured in the high jump, where he claimed silver behind Sarvesh Anil.
Tejaswin continues to hold the high jump National record (2.29m).
Tejaswin stated that gaining experience against seasoned 110m hurdles athletes helps in becoming a better overall decathlete.
“Hurdles, among the 10 events in decathlon, is one of those events where the more reps I do, the better I get. In practice, you can never simulate that competition environment. Here, you get regional talent competing against you.
“It’s always beneficial for me to compete against seasoned specialists,” said Tejaswin.
The JSW athlete explained that this tournament comes in as handy preparation ahead of the inter-State championships.
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“There are certain competitions that you have to do to qualify for the inter-State championships. I’ve hit two birds with one stone – the criteria for the inter-State, which was 2.05m, and also to see where I’m at in terms of my preparation,” Tejaswin said.
The 26-year-old recently won the decathlon silver at the Asian Athletics Championships, but he was not entirely satisfied with his performance. Tejaswin hoped to erase his own National record of 7,666 points, but fell short with 7,618 points.
“This year, my big event was the Asian Championships. The only thing I missed out on was breaking my own National record. Obviously, at such a big competition, ultimately all that matters is that you earn a medal, but my personal goal was still not achieved,” he added.
