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Bhubaneswar: The moment Sarvesh Kushare cleared 2. 31m at Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday, becoming the first Indian to breach the 2. 30m barrier and setting a new national record, his childhood coach Raosaheb Jadav was already looking ahead.
His mind had shifted to 2. 36m — and the Olympics.It was Raosaheb who first spotted Kushare’s talent when the future national record holder, then a Class 7 student at Dr Bhosale Vidyalaya in Deogaon, began going toe to toe with boys several years older than him.
Back then, however, there were hardly any facilities. When Kushare switched from the scissors technique to Fosbury Flop, he needed a proper landing area. So Raosaheb and Sarvesh’s father Anil Kushare decided to build one themselves.“We experimented with dried corn stalks, cattle fodder, tailoring waste, cotton and anything else we could find,” recalled Raosaheb.“Eventually, with help from local people, we built a makeshift landing pit. A transport operator helped us get large sacks, a local farmer gave us dried flower waste from his fields and the entire village contributed in some way.”The pit, built when Kushare was in Class 9, became the foundation of a remarkable journey.
Despite the hardships, he kept improving and went on to win medals at the state and national levels.“During his school days, he often competed barefoot because we couldn’t afford proper shoes. Yet he never gave up. That is why this achievement feels so special for our family,” said Anil, a farmer who grows onions and mushrooms among other crops in his village.Although Anil wanted his son to pursue engineering and even took him to Sanjivani College of Engineering in Kopargaon for admission, Sarvesh had other plans.
He told his father that he wanted to become an athlete.After spending three years in Sangli for his graduation, Kushare returned to train under Raosaheb before earning a place in the Army in 2016. The move proved pivotal. He later joined the Army Sports Institute in Pune and began working under coach Jithin Thomas.“I had told him, ‘Nobody in India has ever cleared 2. 30m. If you can do it, then for as long as people talk about high jump in this country, they will remember your name first,’” said Jithin, who now trains Kushare at the Anju Bobby George Academy in Bengaluru.As for Sarvesh himself, who competed at Paris Olympics and made it to the finals of World Championships, the journey to the national record has been a long one. For years, he had been chasing Tejaswin Shankar’s national record of 2. 29m. Even at the Federation Cup last month, he cleared 2. 28m but fell short of the elusive mark.Now, however, that burden is off his shoulders. Having finally broken through the 2. 30m barrier and rewritten the record books, there is no telling how high he can go.Kushare believes Indian high jump has entered a new era. But it was Tejaswin’s 2. 29m national record in 2018 that showed what was possible. Now, having raised the mark to 2. 31m, he hopes to push the event to even greater heights.“With the kind of support and training I’m getting, the Olympics don’t feel too far away. If I continue working hard and maintain this level of performance, I believe I can achieve even greater things,” added Sarvesh before signing off to celebrate.
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