CHENNAI: When hurdler Tejas Shirse blazed through the tracks at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana to rewrite the national record, it evoked a sense of hope amongst athletics aficionados. The event which he took part – The Indian Open Athletics series - 9 in June – was the last chance saloon for the recently concluded Commonwealth Games.
And in Glasgow, Shirse did not disappoint. He qualified to the final with a mark of 13.76s, and became the first Indian to do so since 1966.
However, the final did not go as planned. As revealed by his coach and Reliance Foundation's athletics director James Hillier, Shirse carried a foot injury to the final, to finish last.
In a social media post on Tuesday, the Maharashtra hurdler revealed that he won’t compete in the Asian Games in Japan, going on to say that he competed in Glasgow with “two stress fractures.”
For the past 12 months, Shirse has battled various injuries and has put in creditable performances. However, the latest one may be the biggest blow.
“I thought I'd be holding a medal. This was the time I was prepared to win. Instead, I'm holding MRI reports," Shirse wrote on Instagram. “A dream paused. A season over," he added. "The cruelest part isn't one race. It's knowing I qualified for the Asian Games and now I won't get to stand on that start line again!. Today, I don't have a comeback story. I have pain. Questions. Regret over a few choices I know I could've made differently. And a future I suddenly can't see as clearly as I did a week ago. I'll be back when I know who I am after this chapter," he said.
Shirse had the option to opt out of the final. "I didn't feel it (injury) going into the competition. Something changed during warm-up. Every athlete knows that moment when your body tells you something is wrong, but your heart refuses to listen.
"So I ran. Not because I thought I would win because sometimes you've worked too long to walk away before the gun goes off," he said.
Then he goes on to say that he would try to build his identity not by a single race, but by how he gets past this injury. "For the first time in a long time.I genuinely don't know what comes next. But if this sport has taught me anything, it's that your strongest identity can't be built on your fastest race. If my journey can help even one person believe that setbacks are not the end, then I'll continue to be honest about both the highs and the lows," he said.
