India, May 26 -- Tejaswin Shankar has earned himself a well-deserved break. Back from the Federation Cup in Ranchi where he became the first Indian decathlete to cross 8000 points and meet the AFI's entry standards (7787) for this year's Commonwealth Games, Tejaswin has given himself two weeks to put his feet up and "enjoy the sport as a spectator". The 27-year-old scored 8057 points in ten disciplines across two gruelling days to become only the 10th Asian to breach the 8k mark.

Tejaswin is characteristically nonchalant in his assessment of his feat. That's because fairly early in his pivot to combined events, he figured there's literally no one in the country who could challenge him. So he set bars - and his ambition - so high that on-...