In the last edition, Muruyama won the bronze. National record holder decathlete Tejaswin Shankar is an interesting character and he lived up to his reputation yet again after winning the bronze medal in the ongoing Asian Games. “Third is not the spot I was aiming for. This bronze monkey has to be removed from my back.
He settled for bronze with 7934 total points on Sunday, to add to the silver he had won in the last edition. Japan’s Yuma Muruyama took the gold with 8123 points.
I don’t think I won a bronze, I lost the silver,” Tejaswin said with a lot of disappointment. He also won long jump and high jump events. I am pretty pissed at this point. I am so disappointed with the bronze medal. “Well, at that point, it was not about medals but about the fact that Yuma beat me at Asian Indoor Championships in last one kilometer. Three would be the absolute sweet spot where one is a qualifying meet, second is against really good competition, and then third is the major championships. “I need to rework my plan in cooperation with AFI. But at the same time be able to draw from their expertise and kind of be able to brainstorm to the point where the championship decathlon of that year is my third for the year. That way I can be more fresh, more hungry. I don’t care about being a role model for anyone. I mean, if somebody wants to admire me, that’s fine.
Tejaswin could not go near his national record mark of 8057 points recorded during Federation Cup in May, but he has been consistent through the season.
That reel runs a lot (on social media),” said Tejaswin. He said he was pretty satisfied to win the 1500m race. Asked what is the ideal number of competitions for a decathlete to remain at his best, Tejaswin said, “Two, one might say is very less. Asked if he could be a role model for the kids back in Kansas, he said, “Well, absolutely not.
