Tejaswin breaches Asiad qualifying mark

Bhubaneswar: Competing in only his third decathlon of career, Tejaswin Shankar of Delhi breached the Asian Games qualifying mark en route winning the gold to steal the limelight on the third day of National Inter-State Athletics Championship here on Saturday.Swapna Barman of Madhya Pradesh won the gold in the women’s heptathlon and also went past the Asian Games qualifying mark of 5654 aggregate points by gathering 5918 points in the combined seven events over the two days. Agasara Nandini of Telangana also breached the qualifying mark by aggregating 5703 points. Gold winner in 100m, Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh added 100m hurdles title to her kitty with a timing of 12.92 seconds as 12 athletes achieved the Asian Games qualifying mark. The day also witnessed an unfortunate incident as triple jumper Akhilesh of Karnataka suffered a nasty injury on his right leg — his front shin bone badly broken — during take off after the first jump and was taken to a local hospital in an ambulance. The 24-year-old Shankar accumulated 7576 points to go past the qualifying mark of 7500 points in the gruelling 10-event competition fought over two days on Friday and Saturday. Rajasthan’s Yamandeep Sharma was a distant second with 7165 aggregate points while Gokul S of Kerala took the bronze with 6937 points.In men’s high jump, Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) and Jesse Sandesh (Karnataka) celebrated by equalling the Asian Games qualifying mark of 2.24m. However, Sarvesh Anil Kushare was the winner, while Jesse Sandesh finished second. In the men’s triple jump, national record holder Praveen Chithravel (17.07m) of Tamil Nadu, Abdulla Aboobacker (16.88m) of Kerala and 2022 CWG gold winner Eldhose Paul (16.75m), also of Kerala, finished first, second and third respectively as all of them breached the Asian Games qualification mark of 16.60m. PTI