Tejaswin Shankar exits high jump with knee injury, targets decathlon from Thursday
Synopsis
Tejaswin Shankar's Commonwealth Games high jump bid ended after a single attempt when a long-standing knee condition flared up during warm-up. The Birmingham 2022 bronze medallist — India's only man past 8,000 decathlon points — stayed to cheer Sarvesh Kushare to silver, then turned his focus entirely to the decathlon starting Thursday. The next 48 hours of recovery will decide whether India's best all-rounder gets a second shot at a Glasgow medal.
Key Takeaways
Tejaswin Shankar withdrew from the Commonwealth Games high jump on 28 July after a single unsuccessful attempt at 2.05m due to a knee tendonitis flare-up.
Shankar felt a stabbing pain during his warm-up and chose to stop to protect his decathlon campaign, which begins on Thursday .
Sarvesh Kushare won silver in the high jump, clearing 2.25m , after breaking Shankar's eight-year-old national record ( 2.31m ) last month.
Shankar is the first Indian to cross the 8,000-point mark in decathlon and holds the national record in the discipline.
He won bronze at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and has an Asian Games silver plus two Asian Championships medals in decathlon.
Tejaswin Shankar, India's national record holder in the decathlon, was forced to withdraw from the high jump event at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on 28 July after a flare-up of a pre-existing knee condition cut his campaign to a single attempt. Fighting back tears, Shankar said he felt a stabbing pain in his knee during his warm-up and chose to stop competing to protect his chances in the decathlon, which begins on Thursday.
What Happened in the High Jump
Shankar made one unsuccessful attempt at 2.05m before withdrawing. The injury, he clarified, was not new — he has long managed tendonitis in his knee — but its timing could not have been worse. He had arrived in Glasgow in confident form, fully expecting to challenge for a medal. 'The day you need it the most, that day you have to face such an injury,' he said, visibly emotional.
The pain first struck during his warm-up. 'In my second attempt, in the second attempt of my warm-up, that's when I felt that stabbing pain,' Shankar explained. Despite the setback, he said he pushed himself mentally to attempt his first competition jump, hoping the adrenaline and conditions — cold and wet weather, which he described as his preferred environment — would carry him through.
Why He Stopped After One Jump
Shankar was deliberate in his decision to pull out after a single attempt. With the decathlon scheduled to start in two days, he calculated that risking further damage in the high jump was not worth jeopardising a ten-event competition in which he holds India's national record. 'I don't want to ruin the next event that I have,' he said. 'Until that event doesn't break me, until I don't give up, I'm going to use the next two days to recover and fix this problem and try and put out a big score.'
Sarvesh Kushare Wins Silver, Shankar Stays to Support
Even as he dealt with his own disappointment, Shankar remained at the venue to support his compatriot Sarvesh Kushare. Kushare, who broke Shankar's eight-year-old national record with a 2.31m leap at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar last month, cleared 2.25m before three failed attempts at 2.28m saw him settle for the silver medal. 'Kudos to Sarvesh for managing these conditions. He did very well. And India's first medal in track and field — I think that's something huge that we should all cherish and congratulate him,' Shankar said.
Shankar's Decathlon Credentials
Shankar is a formidable decathlete by any measure. He is the first Indian to surpass the 8,000-point mark in the gruelling ten-event discipline, holds the national record, and has won an Asian Games silver along with two Asian Championships medals. He also claimed bronze at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. All of that history makes the next two days of recovery critical — and the decathlon starting Thursday a genuine medal opportunity if his knee holds.
Point of View
But it underlines a structural problem Indian athletics keeps running into: elite multi-event athletes arriving at major Games managing chronic injuries rather than peaking. Tendonitis in a high jumper's knee is not a surprise — it is a management failure that should have been resolved in the build-up. The silver lining is Kushare's rise, which signals genuine depth in Indian high jump for the first time in years. But the more pressing question is whether Shankar's support staff can achieve in 48 hours what months of preparation apparently could not.
NationPress
28 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Tejaswin Shankar withdraw from the high jump at the Commonwealth Games?
Shankar withdrew after a single attempt at 2.05m because he felt a stabbing pain in his knee during his warm-up. He has a history of knee tendonitis and chose to stop as a precautionary measure to protect his participation in the decathlon, which begins on Thursday.
Will Tejaswin Shankar compete in the decathlon at the Commonwealth Games?
Shankar intends to compete in the decathlon, which starts on Thursday, and said he will use the two-day gap to recover. He has not ruled himself out, but his participation depends on how his knee responds to treatment over the next 48 hours.
Who is Sarvesh Kushare and what did he achieve?
Sarvesh Kushare is an Indian high jumper who won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, clearing 2.25m. He broke Tejaswin Shankar's eight-year-old national record with a 2.31m leap at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar last month.
What are Tejaswin Shankar's achievements in decathlon?
Shankar is the first Indian to surpass 8,000 points in the decathlon and holds the national record in the discipline. He has won an Asian Games silver and two Asian Championships medals in decathlon, along with a bronze at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
What did Tejaswin Shankar say about his injury?
Shankar said the knee injury was not new — he has long managed tendonitis — but the timing was especially difficult. 'The day you need it the most, that day you have to face such an injury,' he said, adding that he was determined to recover and 'put out a big score' in the decathlon.
