Tejaswin cracks indoor mark

High jumper Tejaswin Shankar set a national indoor record of 2.28 metres at a competition in the United States on Saturday.

Tejaswin was competing for the Kansas State University in the Big 12 meeting in Ames, Iowa. The Indian won the bronze behind Trey Culver (2.31M) and Vernon Turner, who also cleared 2.28. The Indian missed silver on a countback.

Tejaswin, who moved to the US to focus on his athletics career, has been working with coach  Cliff Rowelto  at Kansas, where the Indian has received a full scholarship. He had broken the national indoor record with a clearance of 2.19 metres in January.

Tejaswin has an outdoor best of 2.26 metres, which is the national record. The 19-year-old from New Delhi will now travel back to India to compete in the Federation Cup at Patiala next week, hoping to meet the Athletics Federation of India requirement. The AFI guideline for the Commonwealth Games is 2.25 metres.

Tejaswin's form augurs well for India, with only three other athletes from the Commonwealth -- two from Bahamas and one from Canada --  doing better than 2.28M this season so far.