Sarvesh Kushare: Maharashtra high jumper misses out on World Athletics medal despite personal best effort
Sarvesh Kushare, who is the son of an onion farmer from a village near Nashik in Maharashtra, broke his personal best record of 2.27m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
New Delhi: Little-known high jumper Sarvesh Kushare missed out on a medal at the World Athletics Championships despite finishing a creditable sixth with a personal best of 2.28m. Kushare finished a centimetre short of the national record at the ongoing global event in Tokyo. Kushare scripted history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian to qualify for the medal round in the event.
Kushare, 30, son of an onion farmer from a village near Nashik in Maharashtra, broke his personal best record of 2.27m, which he had recorded in 2022. He cleared the 2.28m in his third attempt.
However, he failed to rise higher when the bar was raised to 2.31m and missed the national record of 2.29m set by Tejaswini Shankar in 2018.
Disappointment for Kushare, but encouraging signs for Indian high jumper
While Kushare, who used to practice on fodder-made mats in the initial phase of his career, must be disappointed with the result, he would be proud of his performance. He qualified for the World Championships by the barest of margins, sneaking into the event through world ranking quota at the 34th spot among 36 athletes to participate.
Kushare, who claimed a silver at the 2023 Asian Championships, jumped above 2.20m in his first attempt and then took two jumps to clear the next height of 2.24m. When the bar was raised to 2.28m, Kushare succeeded on the third attempt after two failed efforts.
Meanwhile, defending Olympic champion Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won the gold medal with a leading jump of 2.36m. Indoor champion Woo Sanghyeok of Korea bagged the silver with 2.34m in a tough competition.
During the qualification event on Sunday, Kushare jumped 2.25m to seal a berth for the final after finishing joint seventh in Group B. He finished joint ninth in the overall rankings across two groups to become the first Indian high jumper to reach the World Championships final.
Kushare is one of the most consistent performers this season, with only one jump below 2.19m out of 10 outings.
He became the first Indian high jumper to feature at the Olympics in the 2024 Paris Games. However, he failed to reach the finals after failing to get past the qualification hurdle.