Bengaluru, July 24 -- In mid-February, when Tejas Shirse sat down with his team to assess where his season stood, the conclusion appeared obvious. Forget the Commonwealth Games. The 24-year-old hurdler from Maharashtra was still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered late in 2025. The qualification standard looked unrealistic, the timeline too short and the risk of rushing back too great. "It was the sensible thing to do," Shirse told HT from Poland where he is putting the finishing touches on his preparations. Injury had forced reality upon everyone around him. Shirse chose to cling to hope. "In my mind, I was always like, 'I want to go to CWG. But I'm not going to force myself to do that'." Soon after his four-month injury-induced la...