GUWAHATI: Indian high jumper Sarvesh Kushare created history by becoming the first Indian to win a silver medal in the men's high jump at the Commonwealth Games after finishing second in Glasgow on Monday, July 27.
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Kushare cleared 2.25m before failing in all three attempts at 2.28m to settle for silver. Jamaica's Romaine Beckford won the gold medal on countback, while England's Kimani Jack claimed bronze with a clearance of 2.20m.
The medal caps a breakthrough season for the 30-year-old Indian athlete. Earlier this month, Kushare became only the fourth Indian athlete to finish on the podium at a Diamond League meeting after securing third place in Monaco.
He also rewrote the national record by clearing 2.31m at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar last month, surpassing Tejaswin Shankar's eight-year-old mark.
The other Indian in the competition, Adarsh Ram, finished fifth after clearing 2.15m.
Kushare's silver marks India's best-ever performance in the Commonwealth Games men's high jump. Tejaswin Shankar had won bronze at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games to become India's first medallist in the event, while Kushare has now upgraded that achievement with the country's first-ever silver medal.
Born on June 17, 1995, in Devargaon village of Maharashtra's Nashik district, Kushare comes from a farming family. His father, Anil Kushare, an onion farmer, had initially wanted him to pursue civil engineering, but Kushare chose high jump despite limited access to training facilities. His perseverance has now earned India a historic medal on the Commonwealth Games stage.