'You Can Still Do It': Vinesh Phogat Offers Encouragement To 'Heartbroken' Tejaswin Shankar After Injury

Three-time Commonwealth Gold medalist Vinesh Phogat has encouraged Tejaswin Shankar after the long jump star was heart-broken following an injury. Shankar was a medal hopeful in the men's high jump, but had to withdraw after just one attempt due to a knee injury. Naturally, he was heartbroken and broke down in tears while speaking to the media at the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow.

"Teju still you can do it. Stay focused on what’s ahead. My coach always said, as professional athletes we must always be prepared for the best and at the same time, be ready for the worst. In life everything happened for a reason i guess. Rooting for you as always," she wrote in a post on X.

Shankar was left to tears while revealing that he felt shooting pain in his knee before his second jump and decided to stop as a precautionary measure to recover well for the decathlon event, starting on Thursday.

Tejaswin noted that the injury was especially ill-timed, as he had arrived in Glasgow fully confident in his ability to claim another Commonwealth Games medal.

Sarvesh Kushare, who broke Tejaswin Shankar's eight-year-old national record with a 2.31m leap at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar last month, cleared 2.25m before three unsuccessful attempts at 2.28m saw him settle for silver medal

Despite his own injury setback, he stayed back at the venue and helped his compatriot Kushare, who bettered Tejaswin's 2022 performance with a silver.