Tejaswin Shankar misses decathlon National Record by whisker, meets Asian Games qualification mark

In just his second decathlon event, high jumper Tejaswin Shankar bagged a silver when he made people sit up and take notice at the Jim Click Shootout competition in Arizona, USA.

Tejaswin, who won the Commonwealth Games bronze in Birmingham in High Jump last year, scored a cumulative of 7648 points in the 10-team event.

His silver-medal winning effort of 7648 points was just 10 points fewer than Bharatinder Singh’s national record of 7658 fro 2011.

Till Steinforth of Nebraska stood first with 7,845 points. Tejaswin looked in complete control throughout the 10 events over two grueling days.

The 24-year-old Tejaswin, who is currently working in the US after completing college at the Kansas State University, competed as an unattached athlete. He won the high jump (2.19m) and 400m race (48.41s).

The other eight events are 100m race, long jump, shot put, 110m hurdles race, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1500m race.

The competition was held at the University of Arizona’s Tucson campus and is recognised by United States Track and Field (USTAF).