After India’s recent performance at the Olympics a question mark is raised on the talent and capabilities of players available in the pool. Many stake holders are claiming to be working hard to get India its glory at the Olympics without getting into the root cause. To me the main reason is lack of “Talent Scouting” especially at the School level. I happen to know a young athlete- Tejaswin Shankar very closely for last 3 years and his talent has given me a ray of hope for Indian medals at the Olympics.
It is very important for any State or Country to locate raw talent and groom them for future results but unfortunately in India “the talent has to locate felicitators”, many talented players go unnoticed at the junior level because they are not picked up at the ‘right time by the right people. Or they lack proper guidance, in some cases some athletes are lucky to get noticed and Tejaswin is also one of them.
The talent of this athlete was spotted by his school PE teacher who was also a athletics coach-Sunil Sir. Tejaswin is the son of a eminent lawyer Mr. Hari Shankar who was lawyer of BCCI And Chennai Super King’s who always wanted his son to be a cricketer but destiny made his son an athlete who probably can be the first one to be part of Olympics as a High Jumper.
His mentor and coach Sunil Sir made him understand that cricket was not the sport for him but high jump. His mother’s love and guidance of Sunil Sir was responsible for the success of this athlete who lost his father in March 2014.
Tejaswin’s journey is a story of courage, his journey started in September 2013 with a 1.70 meter jump at a state championship where he participated without permission of his father– that was the turning point for his career
His mentor and coach Sunil Sir made him understand that cricket was not the sport for him but high jump. His mother’s love and guidance of Sunil Sir was responsible for the success of this athlete who lost his father in March 2014.
Those who started to support him in his efforts and blessed him to raise the bar, his mother a housewife was pulled in the legal profession to take over good work of his father, she cleared Law exams at the age of 35. Today the driving force behind this young talent is his mother and his coach Sunil.
Since his first win in 2013, Tejaswin has cleared his bar in a consistent manner- 2014 was 2.01 to 2.12 at Doha to 2.14 at Samoa ( a new Commonwealth record) in 2015 to 2.17 at the South Asian Games in 2015 to 2.22 at Lucknow in 2016 September to 2.26 in November2016, Tejaswin has raised the Bar from 1.70 to 2.26 in just 3 years which is a great achievement in comparison to Gold Medallist Drouin Derek of Canada at the Rio Olympics who moved from 2.29 to 2.38 in 4 years. These stats clearly indicate that India has a great talent in Tejaswin who undoubtedly is a medal hope in 2020 Olympics.
Tejaswin has broken the National Seniors record at the age of 17 being a Student of Sardar Patel Vidayalay in New Delhi, coincidently the previous record holder same is same as of his father i.e. Hari Shankar. His vision and target is clear he wants to achieve heights in Sporting career and turn back to be a Lawyer like his parents once he is done with sports. I wish all the best to Tej and want him to achieve something for which we all have waited.
The columnist is a sports guru