Indian decathlete
Heading into the discus throw, Shankar had established a strong lead of 5,270 points, bolstered by a third-place finish in the 110m hurdles heat where he clocked 14.33 seconds to earn 932 points. However, his performance in the discus throw saw him record a best distance of 36.77 metres, a result noted as being four metres short of his personal best. This performance left him with a total of 5,869 points, allowing competitors from China and Japan to overtake him in the standings.
Final Events and Broader Indian Performance
With the decathlon nearing its conclusion, Shankar faces a difficult task in the final two disciplines, the pole vault and the javelin throw, neither of which are considered his primary strengths. Elsewhere in the athletics programme, India experienced mixed fortunes as Manju Rani finished sixth in the women's marathon race walk with a time of 3:40:17, while teammate Priyanka Goswami was disqualified after passing the 9 km mark.
In the surfing competition, India saw significant progress as Sivaraj Babu advanced to the third round of the men's shortboard event. Babu secured his spot by defeating Iran's Davoud Khadir with a score of 8.96, derived from wave scores of 4.83 and 4.13. He joins fellow Indian surfer Kishore Kumar in the third round. The success extended to the women's shortboard category, where both Sugar Shanti Gayen and Kamali Prakash successfully navigated their respective heats to reach the third round. Gayen defeated Chen Wan-yu of Chinese Taipei with a score of 7.33, while Prakash overcame Singapore's Camille Marie Spaccarotella with a total of 7.57.
