From cob to CWG glory: Sarvesh Kushar’s journey to historic high jump silver

Sarvesh Kushare (Image credit: National record holder Sarvesh Kushare finally has a medal on the big stage that he has been chasing for a long time, from the corn husk landing in Deogaon to the all-time high jump finish at the CWG in India.Deogaon, a village near Nashik, is a long way from the biggest athletic events. However, Kushare had long believed that he was among the elite. He finally did it with a medal on Monday night in Glasgow.Kushare became the first Indian to win a silver medal in the high jump at the Commonwealth Games after clearing 2.25m. Romaine Beckford of Jamaica also cleared 2.25m but won the gold on countback when he cleared the height on his first attempt. Kushare needed all three tries. Not one of them could overcome 2.28 m.The Indian was in his element, smiling confidently and displaying a dash of showmanship before each attempt.Before his final attempt at 2.28m, he looked towards the crowd, smiled, put a finger to his lips and gestured for silence. He failed to clear the bar, but celebrated his hard-earned silver in style. “I got silver at 2.25m but it’s not even my best jump. I know I can jump higher but yesterday was not the right day. The weather conditions were not very favorable for any of us,” Olympic Gold Quest-backed Kushare told TOI.The national record holder, who began training in his village on a makeshift landing pit filled with maize husks, said the silver provided the validation he had long sought. “I’ve participated in big-ticket tournaments – I’ve been to the Olympics, the World Championships, the Diamond League – but I didn’t get a medal there. I know I belong in the big leagues, but it didn’t feel good to come back without a medal. I’m glad it changed in Glasgow. Now I know I can be better,” said the Army athlete.At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Kushare finished 13th in Group B and 25th overall after clearing 2.15m. Last year at the Tokyo World Championships, he became the first Indian high jumper to reach the finals, finishing joint sixth with a then personal best of 2.28m.Since then, he has 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 clear the 2.30m mark. Kushare believes the CWG medal will encourage him to work harder and strengthen him mentally for future challenges.In Monday’s final, teammate Tejaswin had to withdraw after one failed attempt at 2.05m when a knee problem flared up. However, the Birmingham 2022 bronze medalist stayed pit-side and led Kushare until the end of the competition.“We share a very good bond. I felt bad when he had to retire, but it was the right decision as continuing would have deepened the pain. He has always helped me and yesterday was no different,” Kushare said.