Kushare eyes Asiad high!

India’s Sarvesh Anil Kushare competes in the men’s high jump qualification in Budapest, Hungary, on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images

Sarvesh Anil Kushare has the look of a man who is afraid of his own shadow. Being inside the cauldron-like National Athletic Centre (NAC) here in Budapest, the imposing bull-ring type of atmosphere, the constant buzz, chatter, starter guns, groans of the fans, applause, being surrounded by stars like Qatar's Mutaz Barshim, Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi, even South Korea's rising star Sang-hyeok Woo, everything can be quite unsettling.

Woo was also at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok recently, where he won the gold, jumping 2.28m. Kushare bagged the silver, clearing 2.26, the first high-jump medal for India at the Asian Athletics after Jithin Thomas's silver in 2013. Kushare speaks softly. Each word, like every step he takes, after rocking himself into a take-point for his jump. His eyes don't dart around. He fixes you in a stare where earnestness in what he says comes through like an athlete cutting through a middle-distance field to eventually go ahead of the pack.

Alien territory

Making a World Championship debut can be difficult. You're in alien territory where top athletes treat it like their backyard. Tamberi could even sleep soundly inside the NAC. He runs around everywhere, crosses over from one jumping pit to the next. His mind seems to be a restless mass of neurons. Barshim is calm, sits on the edge of the bench, cap on, watching the athletes jump. That's royalty checking out the stragglers.

Kushare is in the middle of all this - part of the supporting cast, trying to make sense of the part he plays in this blockbuster. It takes time to settle at a World Championship. Ask Neeraj Chopra about his 2017 World Championship experience in London. With a qualifying mark of 83m, his best was 82.26m, and was ranked 15th after the qualifying. Kushare was 20th, but is keen to draw from the Budapest experience and work things out in time for the Asian Games.

‘Wasn't under any pressure'

After his first jump, a quiet effort at 2.14m, Kushare got into the act, getting the fans going as he prepared his jump, cleared and waved to the fans. He also gave a thumbs-up to the camera following him. He learnt fast. "I wasn't under any pressure. I was trying to bring some rhythm into my running when going for the jump. That was missing," he said.

Recently, during the Asian meet, Kushare had said he was jumping 2.25m in practice. A repeat of this may have pushed him higher up the positions and on the threshold of a final. "I was clearing 2.25m in practice quite easily. But in this competition, I just couldn't get going. But I will try my best at the Asian Games," he added.

Being inside the stadium alongside the world's best, is Kushare's big takeaway from the Worlds: "I was in a group with some of the world's best jumpers and I saw how they set up things. Next time, I'll be better prepared." In the world of high jumps, a borderline track and field version of hip-hop, Kushare promises to rap better the next time.