New Delhi, Sept. 11 -- At the start of the year, when Tejas Shirse and coach James Hillier got together to plan the year, they had a clear goal in mind. The World Championships in Tokyo was still a fair way ahead but the duo knew that's where they wanted to be. Despite his recent success, Shirse had failed to make the cut for any major continental or world event. He missed the 2023 Asian Championships, the 2023 Asian Games, 2024 Paris Olympics, 2025 World Indoors, and 2025 Asian Championships. "All those were near misses, almost by whisker. Bad luck, fitness, performance, call it what you will, the wait was getting excruciating by the day," he said. Shirse's preparation started on the wrong foot as he suffered a Grade 1 tear in his left hamstring at the start of the season. Four months into the year, Shirse's left hamstring gave way again as he prepared for the Federation Cup. Another frustrating period of rehabilitation followed. "I was working on a new technique, trying to snap down from the hurdle and pulled my hamstring. I guess I was working too hard," the 110m hurdler said. Two months passed before his left foot was undone by navicular stress reaction, a fairly common issue that sprinters face thanks to overload and overtraining. By this time, Shirse had reworked his plans and was already cherry picking events. "That last injury took a long time. It has still not healed completely but I have been managing the pain. I am happy to have qualified but also a little worried because I haven't had my best preparation leading up to the competition," he admitted. Nine months into the year, when he finally made it to the Worlds, Shirse couldn't help feeling "perplexed." The 23-year-old qualified at the last possible instant, sneaking in at the 40th place -- the last available slot -- on rankings after Cyprus' Milan Trajkovic and Australia's Tayleb Willis pulled out. That made Shirse only the second Indian male hurdler to qualify for the World Championships after Siddhant Thingalaya in 2017. Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, however, occupies the pride of place among Indian hurdlers, having finished fifth at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Lucky break notwithstanding, "bittersweet" is not how athletes usually describe their emotions upon qualifying for a major event, but Shirse has his reasons. "I wanted to qualify by entry standard (13.27s) and not squeeze in somehow," he said. The successive injuries have meant Shirse's preparations for the Worlds have been far from ideal, but he is looking at the positives. "It has been a mental and physical struggle leading up to the competition but I am finally there. It would have been easy for me to fall into a spiral of negativity, but I tell myself that I am among the 40 best hurdlers in the world. I haven't raced alongside the Americans, so this will be an opportunity. I want to better my personal best at the Worlds, that's the only target I have." "The fact that I could make it despite so many injuries tells me I have potential. I am not too stressed about this competition. If I can make this far, it is clear as a day that I have a lot of potential," he said. There's no denying Shirse on the potential front. The current national record holder (13.41s) believes he has the skills to run 13.10s consistently. The current Asian record is 12.88s and has been held by China's Liu Xiang since 2006. "I can push that sub-13s barrier, but that's not going to happen overnight. It will take proper planning. I am currently running at 70% of my ability but trying to be 100% efficient. I can't put a lot of weight on my left foot, so that is one major tweak. But it's more a mental shift than technical." Having dominated the domestic scene for the past few years, Shirse rued the lack of competition at home. It's not for the want of talent, he asserted, but the planning is where the Indians come unstuck. "An athlete who runs 10.20s has the ability to qualify for 100m and 200m events at elite competitions, but the secret lies in planning. We tend to focus on results and performances a lot, which is a very skewed approach. You need to prepare well and then choose the competitions wisely. Plan for at least 20-25 competitions a year. No need to peak for each event but getting the gametime is very crucial," he said. The World Championships will also draw curtains on his troubled season following which Shirse will head into the requisite rest period before going all-out in the next season where Asian Games await. "I have missed about 6-7 competitions by a whisker. Now is the time to make up for it."...