Want to make Hurdle as popular as Javelin in the country: Tejas Shirse!

Tejas Shirse, 23, is the national record holder in the 110-metre hurdles. His next target is to win medals for the country in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. He said that he wants to popularize hurdles in the country. Speaking exclusively to IANS ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Tejas Shirse said, “Winning is the only goal. I don’t want to go out there and say this is part of the process. The process is for me.

Only victory matters to the world. I just care about winning. The world will also care only about victory. I want to be the best in the world. I want to be the best in whatever event I participate in. If my thinking is not like this, I will never be able to do this. I just want to go to the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games and win—that’s the only goal.”

Making it to the Commonwealth and Asian Games has not been easy for Tejas Shirse. A collision during a hurdle last year left him with multiple injuries to his ankle. Because of that his ankle was almost broken in three-four places. After that, Tejas became very sad.

He said, “Despite doing everything right, and without doing anything wrong, this happened to me. My recovery was a great team effort under the supervision of the Reliance Foundation’s Sports Science team. The team included coach James Hillier, physiotherapist Nilesh Makwana and strength and conditioning coach Kshitij Bhoite. Initially, their goal was to get me running without pain. The Commonwealth Games seemed an impractical goal, but I decided to try. “Decided to.”

Shirse said, “I started training in mid-April and the qualification was to be held in late May and early June. It was not practical to qualify in such a short time and reduce the time. I had this thing in my mind that if it happens, it will be nothing less than a miracle. So, to keep myself motivated, I named it Mission Miracle and it happened.”

Shirse recorded timings of 13.67 seconds and 13.50 seconds at the Federation Cup in Ranchi. He told that after this performance I worked deeply on my thinking. I told myself that even if I lose from here, I cannot fall lower than this. Why not give yourself the opportunity to perform at your level and at your best? I just thought it was a ‘free hit’ opportunity.

As Shirse crossed the finish line in Ludhiana, the trackside clock showed a timing of 13.27 seconds – better than the required standard of 13.39 seconds.

He said, “When you don’t perform well, you feel it’s all over, but if you perform very well, I feel like now I am the best. I have gone through a lot of ups and downs. After that race, I was happy. But two-three hours later, I was in the same state again. So, I am neither too happy nor too sad when I win or lose, and I think that is helping me perform better in my game.”

Shirse’s desire to reach the podium stems from her humble background. While Chhatrapati was growing up in Sambhajinagar, there was a lack of facilities, so he had to learn the game through internet tutorials.

He said, “When I used to train, we used to make wooden hurdles. We didn’t have modern hurdles. Actually, it reflects life too. There are some hurdles that you have to cross and then you just keep moving forward. While growing up, I faced a lot of problems – financial problems, home and family problems etc. I would say that hurdles chose me, I didn’t choose them.”

Although field events like the flat sprint and javelin throw have always been the focus of Indian athletics, Shirse believes that given the technical intricacies of the 110m hurdles, the time has come for a cultural change in the country.

Generally people think that 100 meters race is the fastest and most interesting event. But 110 meter hurdles is also a very technical and interesting event. If you see, earlier people did not even know about javelin throw. But ever since Neeraj Chopra won Olympic gold, people came to know that there is a game called Javelin Throw.

He said, “Cricket was not that popular in India before we won the World Cup in 1983. I think in India we need heroes to worship. We need someone who we can look at and think that he has done it and we can follow him because he has come from among us. So in such a situation, we feel very proud.”

He elaborated, “I think people don’t really love someone until they go out and perform well and give their all for India or their country and their people. I think they will soon see how hard someone is working to represent their country on the world stage.”

Shirshe said that my aim is that I too can do something in hurdles so that this interesting sport is recognized in India. I don’t want to compare this game with any other game, but this game is also exciting.

To fulfill her dream of reaching the podium at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, Shirse will have to face fierce global competition from the heats to the final race. The Commonwealth lineup includes some of the best hurdlers from Jamaica and the Caribbean, notably Demario Prince, while Asian nations like Japan and China also pose a tough challenge.

Instead of being intimidated by world-class rivals, Shirase adopts a simple strategy to handle the environment. He said, “The main challenge for me will be to focus more on myself. When I go to the track, I take my attention away from outside things—don’t pay attention to what others are doing, just focus on myself.

The more I focus on myself, the less pressure I feel. Pressure is a good thing—I believe ‘when pressure is mixed with the right process, it’s good.’ There are a lot of good athletes here. I think there are more chances to win a medal.”

“Training daily in a ‘high-performance bubble’ with top sprinters like Jyoti Yaraji, Gurinderveer Singh and Animesh Kujur helps maintain his competitive edge,” Shirshe said.

He said that you have to think about winning. Whatever the outcome, it is not in your hands. You have to go out and try to win. Even if you don’t win. You have to try to do your best and do your best, and then think that no one else runs faster than you. You have to run fastest and win. This is the only thing you have control over. I expect the Commonwealth and Asian Games to be exciting. I will learn a lot here. My aim is to win a medal.