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October has been a special month for young hurdler Tejas Shirse. He received his first 'Best Athlete' award at the senior level at the National U23 Athletics Championships in Chandigarh last week.
The award was the latest feather in Tejas' cap in a year that has seen him go from strength to strength. Before this month, Tejas last competed at the Inter-State Athletics Championships in June, where again he had won Gold in the 110m hurdles event. In the three months before the National Open Athletics Championships, Tejas has been working very hard in training with a very focused approach. "We were completely focused on preparation after the Inter-State tournament. For three months, we were preparing for the Open Nationals and the National Games. The training was divided into three blocks and the preparation was very extensive," Tejas said. Tejas goes into the National Games, the final event he'll be participating in this year, with back-to-back Golds at the National Open Athletics Championships as well as the National U23 Athletics Championships. He even achieved his personal best of 13.60s at the latter tournament. "The main thing was to get races under my belt. I recently ran three races and improved my personal best in the last competition. The aim is to improve it further at the National Games," Tejas said. Tejas has always believed in following processes in his training. "I want to keep my emotions in check. There is no nervousness as the preparation has been very good. I take the learnings from each competition and just strive to improve every day," he said. Having had a breakthrough year, Tejas acknowledges the contribution Reliance Foundation has had in his journey. "I have exposure to the best coaches and training facilities at Reliance Foundation. With their holistic approach, I have to only focus on my performance and everything else is taken care of. Earlier, a lot of my time would go in arranging funds and planning my tournament calendar. Those things are no longer something that I have to chalk out precious time for." Tejas now wants to shift his focus to qualifying for the Paris Olympics by breaching the direct qualification standard. "I want to end the year well because that can set the tone for the upcoming year. With the Olympics scheduled for next year, my goal is to breach the direct qualification mark for the Olympics in 2024," he concluded. (ANI)
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