“Guys, I won’t cry today”, quipped Indian decathlete Tejaswin Shankar after becoming the first-ever Indian decathlete to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games on Friday night.Four days back in the same area, Tejaswin stood aghast after pulling out of the men’s high jump due to a flared up patellar tendinitis also known as ‘Jumper’s knee’.“This is one day you don’t want the pain to surface. I hope I can recover for the Decathlon as I have two days,” he had said after the high jump event.However, four days later, he was standing there jubilant after running a gruelling 1500m race, the last event of the Decathlon and history to his name.“1500m is all about mental resolve. Running technique or speed doesn’t matter. It is about how much you can hold on to as it feels like body parts are coming apart,” Tejaswin had told this paper after setting a new national record of 8057 at Federation Cup in Ranchi.Tejaswin surely held on to everything including a flared up knee to finish with 7976 points behind Tokyo Olympic champion Damien Warner of Canada and reigning CWG champion Lindon Victor of Grenada.He also became the first Indian to win two medals in athletics at CWG after winning a bronze medal in the men’s high jump at the Birmingham edition in 2022.Story continues below this adTejaswin’s strength and conditioning Wayne Lombard explained the significance of the medal with one line. “ I would say it’s the performance of the Commonwealth Games. To win a decathlon medal with 80% fitness, tells you what it takes to be an elite level athlete,” he told The Indian Express.After Tejaswin pulled out of High Jump, athletics fans around the nation held their breath as Wayne and Indian team doctor Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala worked on the flared up knee.“Tejaswin had thought that he had let everyone down. I haven’t seen him this disappointed ever. We threw everything we had to make sure that he is ready by the time Decathlon starts,” Wayne said.Decathlon is no less than a roller coaster ride and Tejaswin surely experienced the same in two days.Story continues below this adAfter barely making it to the men’s 100m race with a heavily strapped knee, Tejaswin clocked 10.96s and earned 870 points placing him at the seventh spot.While the 100m sprint seeded some doubts as he was far from his personal best, he answered all the doubts with a massive personal best in the second event, long jump. He jumped 7.82m to improve his previous personal best of 7.67m and 1015 points, placing him at the second spot.He performed average in shot put with 13.09m dropping to fifth spot.Then came the high jump, Shankar’s strong suit. With a personal best of 2.29m, he usually earns a lot of points in the event. But his knee again flared up during high jump, restricting him to a best jump of 2.15m.Story continues below this adAfter four events, he again moved up to second place with 3502 points.In the last event of Day 1, 400m, Tejaswin clocked 49.51s to finish the day in second spot with 4339 points just behind Tokyo Olympic champion Warner.“When he ended Day 1, all we wanted was proper recovery for him. Thankfully, his knee was not much flared up. I told him that you have a medal shot, just let your body rest,” said Wayne.Going in the second, Tejaswin had his weaker events such as Discus Throw and Pole Vault. However, he followed the ritual and in the second event of the day recorded another personal best.Story continues below this adAfter clocking 14.41s in the 110m hurdles, he improved his PB twice in Discus to end with 40.44m and hold on to second spot with 5935 points.Up next was his weakest event, the Pole Vault. Tejaswin cleared 4.30m with much ease and scored 702 points but others moved up in the field with higher clearances.After eight events, Tejaswin was placed fourth with 6637 points trailing Sammy Ball in third with 6650 points.Victor secured his gold medal in the Javelin throw with a massive 63.06 throw and a big lead over second place Warner while Tejaswin threw season best of 53.12m to move back in medal position with 7272 points.Story continues below this adAs Ball trailed by 109 points, he needed a big personal best in 1500m while Tejaswin just needed to hold on. Surely he did with 704 points in the last run and India’s biggest-ever Decathlon medal.