In 2017, Kansas State University offered
an athletic scholarship to an 18-year-old
from New Delhi named Tejaswin Shankar.
The following June, while competing as a
freshman, he became the NCAA outdoor
champion in men’s high jump, clearing
2.24 meters.
Now a sophomore and a two-time
All-American in the high jump, Shankar
will get a chance to defend his title this
June at the NCAA Championships in
Austin, Texas.
A graduate of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya,
he holds Indian national records in both
indoor (2.28 meters)
and outdoor (2.29
meters) high jump.
He matched his indoor
record at the Big
12 championships in February, winning his
first Big 12 title.
Shankar is the third Indian to win an
NCAA title in track and field. Mohinder
Singh Gill won five NCAA titles in triple
jump for California Polytechnic State University
from 1968 to 1971 and Vikas Gowda
won an NCAA title in discus for University
of North Carolina in 2006.
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]