Historic gold for para shot putter Sharmila and high jump silver for Kushare in Glasgow

Glasgow, Scotland: After a bunch of medals from the weightlifters and some encouraging results from boxers, it was the day of the athletics contingent at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Led by Para shot putter Sharmila Dhankar and her teammate Shilpa Shyla in F-57 category and high jumper Sarvesh Kushare (in top pic), India put themselves on the medal list in athletics, too.

With Kushare's silver, Sharmila's gold and Shilpa's bronze, India's medal tally reached 10 medals — two gold, five silver and three bronze. The haul lifted India into the top half of the medals table.

The Indians enjoyed a landmark day in athletics at the 2026 Commonwealth Games as high jumper Sarvesh Kushare and Para shot putter Sharmila Dhankar and high jumper Kushare produced historic performances even as injuries to high jumper Tejaswin Shankar and high hurdler Tejas Shirse cast a shadow over an otherwise memorable outing.

Kushare etched his name into Indian athletics history by becoming the first Indian to win a silver medal in the men's high jump at the Commonwealth Games. The national record holder cleared 2.25 metres before narrowly missing 2.28m. He eventually settled for silver after Jamaica's Romaine Beckford claimed gold on countback despite clearing the same height. Beckford succeeded at 2.25m on his first attempt, while Kushare required all three tries, proving decisive in the final standings.

England's Jack Kimani took bronze with 2.20m, while India's Aadarsh Ram finished fifth after a best effort of 2.15m.

Sharmila Dhankar won gold in Para shot put

The silver was Kushare's maiden medal at a major multi-sport event and surpassed Tejaswin Shankar's bronze from Birmingham 2022, making it India's best-ever finish in the men's high jump at the Commonwealth Games.

The medal continued Kushare's breakthrough season. Last month he broke Tejaswin's eight-year-old national record with a leap of 2.31m at the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar and followed it up with a third-place finish at the Monaco Diamond League, becoming only the fourth Indian athlete to reach the podium at a Diamond League meeting.

India's other medal of the day came from para athletics, where Sharmila Dhankar scripted history by becoming the country's first Commonwealth Games para athletics gold medallist.

Competing in the women's shot put F57 event, the 40-year-old produced a season-best throw of 9.81m to comfortably secure gold. Ghana's Zinabu Issah claimed silver with 8.65m, while India's Shilpa K. Shyla earned bronze after Nigeria's Eucharia Iyiazi was disqualified, promoting the Indian onto the podium.

Sharmila's triumph capped an extraordinary personal journey. Born in Chitrauli village in Haryana, she contracted polio at the age of two, affecting one of her legs, before overcoming enormous personal challenges, including surviving domestic abuse, to reach the top of the Commonwealth podium.

Her victory also ended India's two-decade wait for a para athletics medal at the Commonwealth Games and became the nation's second gold medal of the Glasgow Games. The first had come in women’s weightlifting from Mirabai Chanu.

The day, however, also brought injury concerns. Defending bronze medallist Tejaswin Shankar withdrew from the men's high jump final after failing to clear the opening height of 2.05m and appearing to injure himself during his first attempt.

Tejaswin Shankar had to withdraw due to a suspected injury

His withdrawal also raises doubts over his participation in the decathlon later this week.

Another setback came in the men's 110m hurdles final, where national record holder Tejas Shirse became the first Indian to qualify for a Commonwealth Games final in the event but was unable to finish competitively after suffering an apparent injury midway through the race. Shirse hobbled across the finish line in 15.39 seconds to place last, with Jamaica's Demario Prince taking gold in 13.17.

Earlier, Shirse had qualified impressively by clocking 13.76 seconds to finish third in his heat and sixth overall.

India also enjoyed success in the men's long jump qualifiers. Commonwealth Games 2022 silver medallist Murali Sreeshankar comfortably advanced with an opening leap of 8.01m, becoming the only athlete in Group A to surpass the automatic qualifying mark of eight metres. Lokesh Sathyanathan also progressed to the final after recording 7.77m.

In the men's 100 metres, national record holder Gurindervir Singh missed a place in the semi-finals despite finishing second in his heat in 10.39 seconds as against his best of 10.09s. Ranked 28th overall among 73 competitors, he fell short of the 10.24-second cutoff required to advance.

Tags : Sharmila Dhankar, Sarvesh Kushare, Glasgow, Tejaswin Shankar, Commonwealth Games, India, medals