Indian Army athlete Naib Subedar Sarvesh Anil Kushare has set a new national record in high jump, clearing a height of 2.31 meters at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships being held in Bhubaneswar.With this, he has surpassed the earlier record of 2.29 meters set in 2018 by Tejaswin Shankar of New Delhi, and has qualified for the Asian Games. He has become the first Indian in history to clear the legendary 2.30 metre barrier.Over the past few months, several Indian Army sports persons have won gold medals at various international and national competitive events. “The gold rush continues,” the Indian Army said after Kushare bagged the gold. Wishing Nb Sub Sarvesh all the very best for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games — fly high and bring home more glory!” the Army said.The Asian Games record in High Jump is 2.35 meters, set by Mutaz Barsham of Qatar in September 2014 at Incheon in South Korea, while the Commonwealth Games record is 2.36 metres by Clarence Saunders of Bermuda, set in February 1990 at Auckland in Australia. The world high jump record is 2.45 metres, set by Javier Sotomayor of Cuba in July 1993, during the International Athletics Meet at Salamanca in Spain.Belonging to Nashik district of Maharashtra, Kushare had joined the Army in 2016 and is posted at the Artillery Center, Bengaluru. He made his international debut at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal in December 2019, where he won the gold medal in the men’s high jump. He has won several medals at national and international events.As part of its Mission Olympics programme, the Army trains specially selected sportspersons at the Army Sports Institute, which is run in collaboration with the Sports Authority of India.The ASI was established in July 2001 as a multi-disciplinary institute to identify and nurture the vast talent of sportspersons within the Armed Forces Army and recruit potential sportspersons from across the country.