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Tejaswin Shankar withdrew from Commonwealth Games high jump due to a knee injury. He hopes to recover for the decathlon and coached Sarvesh Kushare to a silver medal.
Tejaswin Shankar was forced to withdraw from CWG 2026 due to injury
A devastated Tejaswin Shankar was left fighting back tears after being forced to withdraw from the men’s high jump at the Commonwealth Games, with a flare-up of a long-standing foot issue cutting short his campaign.
The 27-year-old, who had won bronze in Birmingham in 2022, experienced a sharp pain in his knee during the warm-up and could not continue beyond his opening attempt, despite clearing the first height.
Visibly emotional, Tejaswin struggled to compose himself while speaking to reporters after the event.
“I felt a shooting pain in my knee. It happened during my warm-up. It’s nothing new; I have always had tendonitis in my knees,” he said. “I don’t think there is any high jumper who doesn’t have it. That’s why it’s called jumper’s knee. Everyone manages it, and so do I.”
Tejaswin admitted the timing of the injury made the setback even more painful, as he had arrived in Glasgow confident of securing another Commonwealth Games medal.
“But it’s one of those days. You want just one day in a year when you don’t have that pain, but it came on that day only. It really stings. In these conditions, I was really confident I could jump for a win, jump for a medal. I really knew I could win a medal.
“But to not even get through the first height, it stings because I was in really great shape.”
Explaining the issue further, he said: “It’s just overuse of the patellar tendon. There is nothing spectacular about it. It just flared up today and ruined my entire competition.”
Despite the disappointment, Tejaswin remains hopeful of recovering in time for the decathlon, which begins on Thursday.
“I will come back in two days. We still have two days. I’ll give my best over the next two days and try to fix this. I will obviously start. I’m not here on vacation. The patellar tendon is used in the high jump and long jump, so if I’m somehow able to get by those two events, I’m still confident the other events will be fine.
“I am confident I will be able to fix this,” he added.
Tejaswin, the coach
Despite his own heartbreak, Tejaswin stayed back at the venue and stepped into a guiding role for compatriot Sarvesh Kushare, whose campaign ended with a silver medal.
Kushare credited Tejaswin’s technical inputs for helping him regain rhythm after a shaky start.
“I wanted to clear the height in my first attempt itself, but during 2.25m my rhythm was affected, and my stride became shorter. Then TJ told me to move forward in my run-up, and that helped,” Kushare said.
(With PTI Inputs)
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