Tejaswin Shankar wins bronze in decathlon at Asian Athletics Championships 2023

En route to the medal, he achieved a Personal Best in javelin (52.70m) and discus throw (38.14m).

Tejaswin Shankar won the bronze medal in decathlon event at the Asian Athletics Championships 2023. With his third-placed finish, India now have six medals at the ongoing championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

India have so far won three gold and three bronze medals at the 2023 edition of the competition. Indian young track sensation Jyothi Yarraji earlier won gold in 100m hurdles, whereas Abdulla Aboobacker won the gold medal in the men’s triple jump. The final gold medal was won by Ajay Kumar Saroj in men’s 1500m. The other two bronze medalists are Abhishek Pal and Aishwarya Kailash Mishra in men’s 10000m and women’s 400m, respectively.

Tejaswin finished the competition with 7527 points, 200-odd points behind the gold medalist from Japan, Yuma Maruyama. The Japanese accumulated 7745 points. Suttisak Singhkon of Thailand finished second with 7626 points.

Tejaswin’s performance was a roller-coaster ride that saw him leading the pack at some points while failing to do well in some of the events. He finished well ahead of the pack in the high jump, long jump and 400m events, while his performance in the pole vault event was disappointing, to say the least. Of all those who completed their attempts, Tejaswin Shankar finished last with his best effort standing only at 3.80m.

Indians can still expect more medals with key events such as the long jump, triple jump, and shotput throw still to happen. And with India already placed third on the medals table behind China and table-toppers Japan, the fans of Indian athletics will hope to see their team eclipse those two as well.

Japan currently has 18 medals, with seven gold, eight silver and three bronze medals. China follows the East Asian nation with seven medals. They have three gold, three silver and one bronze medal.