India, March 14 -- Tejas Shirse has grown to dislike the word "potential" in sporting parlance.

"It's a fancy word to say you haven't done anything yet," he explains. "We all say, 'This guy has potential'. But, have you done it yet? I don't want to be called someone with good potential. I want to be called someone who has done it."

What the 23-year-old from Maharashtra has done so far in his career is set national records in 110m hurdles (13.41s, 2024) and 60m hurdles (7.64s, 2025). What he's yet to do is translate that potential into something more tangible in terms of silverware and accomplishments on stages that matter.

A combination of injuries, poor timing and performance dips has largely kept Shirse away from major world or conti...