Tejaswin Shankar becomes first Indian to win a high jump medal in Commonwealth Games, while Saurav Ghosal clinches maiden individual squash medal for the country
Tejaswin Shankar competes in the high jump final at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Wednesday. Pic/AFP
Tejaswin Shankar and Saurav Ghosal are at different stages of their careers, but will leave Birmingham with a piece of history against their names.
While Ghosal at 35 is now in the twilight of his career, Shankar, 23, is just beginning to emerge as a star. Late on Wednesday here, both created history of sorts as they won a bronze medal each. It was not the colour of the medal, but the effort each had to put in to get to the podium.
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Shankar became the first Indian to win a medal in Commonwealth Games high jump, while Ghosal’s bronze was the first individual squash medal by an Indian at the CWG.
‘It’s a dream come true’
Shankar, the national record holder, cleared 2.22m to finish third on countback. Donald Thomas of Bahamas and England’s Joel Clarke-Khan also cleared 2.22m but they needed more than one attempt to do it while Shankar was successful in single try.
Saurav Ghosal gets emotional after beating Scotland’s Greg Lobban to clinch the bronze in squash at Birmingham on Wednesday. Pic/PTI
“I had a long [US] collegiate season and started jumping in January but getting a bronze here is like a dream come true and I’m just happy to take something back home with me,” said an elated Shankar, who was added in the Indian athletics squad on the orders of the Delhi High Court.
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If Shankar was elated at going up the podium, after not knowing till a week whether he would board a flight to Birmingham, let alone compete, Ghosal, a hardened veteran of many a medal—seven at Asian Games and one men’s doubles silver in the 2018 CWG—was so emotional that he shed a few tears too.
Setting the record straight
India had never won a squash individual medal and Ghosal set that record right. He did it in style beating the Gold Coast 2018 gold medallist James Willstrop in straight games. Ghosal had lost the men’s singles semi-final 3-0 (9-11, 4-11, 1-11) to New Zealand’s Paul Coll, who went on to win the gold.
Even though Ghosal is hugely respected in squash circles, many felt his best chance was 2018, but he pleasantly surprised everyone. Ghosal made his CWG debut in 2010 and lost in the third round to Philip Barker of England. In 2014, he lost to Willstrop in the semi-finals and then lost the bronze play-off to England’s Philip Barker.
Four years ago, Ghosal was seeded third, the highest billing he had ever got in the CWG, but was stunned in the Round of 32. And in 2014, he, now ranked 15 in the world, won in straight games against Willstrop. It was his second medal at CWG—the first was a mixed doubles silver with Dipika Pallikal in 2018 Gold Coast.
He said: “It’s a historic day for Indian squash. To be able to do this on a stage like this against a player of the ilk of James Willstrop is very, very special. I’m just so happy that after all these years I have managed to kind of pull through and win this medal. So I’m ecstatic.
‘This medal is very special’
“I’m very happy. This singles medal was the one missing from my collection. I have played three Commonwealth Games before this. I came close in 2014 when I finished fourth and to be able to kind of pull through in my fourth attempt makes it even more special because you had to wait for it for so long and, obviously, with it being India’s first, it makes it extremely important and historic for us as a country,” said Ghosal.
With inputs from PTI
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