GOLD COAST, April 11: India continued their search for a medal from athletics in the 21st Commonwealth Games with high jumper Tejaswin Shankar and quartermiler Hima Das both finishing sixth in their respective events here today.
The 19-year-old national record holder Tejaswin could not clear 2.27m in three attempts to be out of contention for a podium finish. The Delhi athlete had leaped 2.28m while winning the gold in the Federation Cup National Championships last month but today he was not in his element.
Tejaswin started with 2.18m which he cleared in his second attempt and sailed the 2.21m-high bar comfortably. He then cleared 2.24m in his first attempt but stuck at 2.27m to the disappointment of the Indian athletics contingent.
�This is the first time I started with 2.18. Generally I start with 2.10 but then now I know that I have to practice at higher heights. That�s how it works in finals. 2.18 looked really good and I thought I was doing really well,� Tejaswin, who is now based out of USA, said after his event.
�Trying to clear 2.27m, somewhere I lost the rhythm. The first two attempts were really bad but then I tried to put everything together for the last attempt but it didn�t work out. It wasn�t my day.�
He said he will have to clear 2.30m to have any chance of winning a medal in such competitions.
�I am pretty sure that I will do that (clearing 2.30m) this year. The biggest positive is I could hold my nerve against these big competitors � the Olympic and Commonwealth medallists. I realised they are people like me, they are not Gods.�
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc�s brother Brandon won the gold with a personal best effort of 2.32m while Jamal Wilson (2.30m) of Bahamas and Django Lovett (2.30m) of Canada took the silver and bronze respectively.
In the women�s 400m finals, Hima Das ran yet another personal best of 51.32 seconds but that was enough for a sixth place finish. The 18-year-old Indian had clocked 51.53 seconds, her personal best before today, in the semifinals yesterday. � PTI
