Tejaswin Shankar and Saurav Ghosal create history at CWG 2022

Tejaswin Shankar and Saurav Ghosal are at different stages of their careers but will leave Birmingham with a piece of history against their namesWhile Ghosal at 35 is now in the twilight of his career Shankar 23 is just beginning to emerge as a star Late on Wednesday here both created history of sorts as they won a bronze medal each It was not the colour of the medal but the effort each had to put in to get to the podiumShankar became the first Indian to win a medal in Commonwealth Games high jump while Ghosalrsquos bronze was the first individual squash medal by an Indian at the CWGlsquoItrsquos a dream come truersquoShankar the national record holder cleared 222m to finish third on countback Donald Thomas of Bahamas and Englandrsquos Joel ClarkeKhan also cleared 222m but they needed more than one attempt to do it while Shankar was successful in single trySaurav Ghosal gets emotional after beating Scotlandrsquos Greg Lobban to clinch the bronze in squash at Birmingham on Wednesday PicPTIldquoI had a long US collegiate season and started jumping in January but getting a bronze here is like a dream come true and Irsquom just happy to take something back home with merdquo said an elated Shankar who was added in the Indian athletics squad on the orders of the Delhi High CourtAlso Read CWG 2022 Sudhir wins gold in para powerlifting mens heavyweight eventIf Shankar was elated at going up the podium after not knowing till a week whether he would board a flight to Birmingham let alone compete Ghosal a hardened veteran of many a medalmdashseven at Asian Games and one menrsquos doubles silver in the 2018 CWGmdashwas so emotional that he shed a few tears tooSetting the record straightIndia had never won a squash individual medal and Ghosal set that record right He did it in style beating the Gold Coast 2018 gold medallist James Willstrop in straight games Ghosal had lost the menrsquos singles semifinal 30 911 411 111 to New Zealandrsquos Paul Coll who went on to win the goldEven though Ghosal is hugely respected in squash circles many felt his best chance was 2018 but he pleasantly surprised everyone Ghosal made his CWG debut in 2010 and lost in the third round to Philip Barker of England In 2014 he lost to Willstrop in the semifinals and then lost the bronze playoff to Englandrsquos Philip BarkerFour years ago Ghosal was seeded third the highest billing he had ever got in the CWG but was stunned in the Round of 32 And in 2014 he now ranked 15 in the world won in straight games against Willstrop It was his second medal at CWGmdashthe first was a mixed doubles silver with Dipika Pallikal in 2018 Gold CoastHe said ldquoItrsquos a historic day for Indian squash To be able to do this on a stage like this against a player of the ilk of James Willstrop is very very special Irsquom just so happy that after all these years I have managed to kind of pull through and win this medal So Irsquom ecstaticlsquoThis medal is very specialrsquoldquoIrsquom very happy This singles medal was the one missing from my collection I have played three Commonwealth Games before this I came close in 2014 when I finished fourth and to be able to kind of pull through in my fourth attempt makes it even more special because you had to wait for it for so long and obviously with it being Indiarsquos first it makes it extremely important and historic for us as a countryrdquo said GhosalWith inputs from PTI