State record holder Sarvesh Kushara has already crossed the 2.30m mark, but the high jumper says his next target is even higher. After becoming the first Indian to clear 2.30m, Kushare has now set his sights on winning gold at Asian games and breaking the 2.35 m limit.Kushare created history by clearing 2.31m at the State Inter-State Athletics Championships on Saturday, bettering the previous national record of 2.29m set by Tejaswin Shankar.The 31-year-old from Maharashtra became the first Indian high jumper to clear 2.30 metres. His jump is also the third best performance in the world this season and the best among Asian athletes. He also cleared the Athletics Federation of India’s Asian Games qualification mark of 2.19m.After setting the national record, Kushare attempted 2.35m but failed to clear the height in two attempts.“I will go for gold in the Asian Games and I am confident of that. The 2.35m mark will also fall, maybe during the Commonwealth or Asian Games,” Kushare was quoted as saying by the news agency after the performance.This will be Kushare’s second Asian Games. He finished fourth at the 2022 Asian Games in China with a jump of 2.26 meters. He has also been named in the 32-member Indian athletics squad for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, scheduled from July 23 to August 2.Soon after Kushare broke the national record, Tejaswin Shankar posted on social media, “Another mental barrier broken!! 2.30+ probably the last of the sticky records. 2.34-35 is just a matter of time.”When asked if overcoming 2.30m was a mental hurdle, Kushare said, “Height is not easy. But if our preparation is like that, anything is possible.“Going above 2.30m is very difficult. If we talk about 2017-18, Tejaswin didn’t do 2.26m, we wouldn’t have come ahead. He did 2.27m and then 2.29m, we are also slowly falling behind. By God’s grace, everything was good and I made it.”Kushare is currently training at the Anju Bobby George Foundation Academy in Bengaluru after previously training at the Army Sports Institute in Pune.Asked if he had cleared 2.30m during practice, he said: “There were attempts in practice, but not as good attempts as the one I have here. Everything here was new and good for me. It was fun to compete and break the national record.“But I didn’t even try with 2.35 m in practice.”
