From a corn husk landing pit in Deogaon to India’s best CWG men’s high jump, national record holder Sarvesh Kushare he finally has the big stage medal that he had been looking for for a long time.Deogaon, a village near Nashik, is a long way from the biggest stages of athletics. Kushare, however, has long believed that he belongs to the elite. On Monday night in Glasgow, he finally had the medal to prove it.Kushare became the first Indian to win a silver medal in men’s high jump at the Commonwealth Games after clearing 2.25m. Jamaica’s Romaine Beckford also cleared 2.25m, but took gold on countback after sailing over the height on her first attempt. Kushare needed all three attempts. Neither could deviate from 2.28m.The Indian was in his element, smiling confidently and displaying a touch of showmanship before each attempt.Before his last attempt at 2.28m, he looked towards the crowd, smiled and put a finger to his lips, gesturing for silence. He couldn’t clear the bar, but he celebrated the hard earned silver in style. “I got silver at 2.25m, but this is still not my best jump. I know I can jump higher, but yesterday was not the day. The weather conditions were not very suitable for us,” Kushare, who is supported by Olympic Gold Quest, told TOI.The national record holder, who started training in his home country on a makeshift landing pit filled with wheat husks, said the silver provided the validation he had been looking for for a long time. “I have participated in big-ticket tournaments – I have been to the Olympics, the World Championships, the Diamond League – but I have not won a medal there. I know that I belong to the big league, but it was not a good feeling to return without a medal. I’m glad this has changed in Glasgow. Now I know I can do better,” said the Army athlete.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Kushare finished 13th in group B and 25th overall after clearing 2.15m. At the World Championships in Tokyo last year, he became the first Indian high jumper to reach the final and finished sixth together with a personal clearance of 2.28m.He has since raised the bar further. Kushare cleared 2.31m in Bhubaneswar last month to break Tejaswin Shankar’s eight-year-old national record of 2.29m and become the first Indian high jumper to break the 2.30m mark. Kushare believes that the CWG medal will motivate him to work harder and make him mentally stronger for the challenges ahead.In Monday’s final, teammate Tejaswin was forced to withdraw after a failed attempt at 2.05m when a knee problem flared up. The Birmingham 2022 bronze medalist, however, stood by the pit and led Kushare until the end of the competition.“We shared a good bond. I felt bad when he had to retire, but that was the right decision as continuing would have aggravated the pain. He always helped me, and it was no different yesterday,” said Kushare.
