Tejas Shirse will look to open India’s medal account in athletics as the track and field events begin at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on Monday. Shirse broke the men’s 110m hurdles national record with a time of 13.27s during the Indian Athletics Series in Ludhiana last month, and carries that form into the season after winning gold at the Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar.He also claimed the Federation Cup title in Ranchi and hopes for a strong showing in his first Commonwealth Games. However, it all sounds like a pipe dream considering he was sidelined for over four months following a serious right ankle injury last year.“Actually, 13.27 wasn’t even part of the plan. Even qualifying for the Commonwealth Games wasn’t something we thought about in the beginning. But things worked out and I was able to achieve both,” said Shirse after his victory in Bhubaneswar.The injury marked one of the lowest points in his career, something he wrote about in detail in an Instagram post in March that began with the words, “I hate it!” It was such a difficult time that, at times, he couldn’t sleep and was “angry and frustrated to the point of snapping.”“People kept talking about my ‘potential’, and I started hating that word because everyone said I had a lot of potential, but I couldn’t show it,” he said.Shirse, however, continued to believe in himself and, with the support of his team, emerged stronger. “I came out of that episode as a much more mature person. I take every experience as a positive now,” he said. “Looking back, I’m glad I went through that period because it changed me.”Apart from his physio Nilesh Makwana and coach James Hillier, what helped him the most during that time was patience. He believes the experience prepared him for “the battles on the track and in life as well.”However, he mostly kept away from his family so they wouldn’t worry. His coach, James Hillier, however, could not be prouder of his comeback.“We only resumed training on the track on April 13, and exactly two months ago, on June 13 in Ludhiana, he broke the national record. That was an incredible achievement,” Hillier said. An even greater achievement is when he reaches the podium. It’s challenging but Hillier thinks it’s possible.Besides Shirse, three of the: Sarvesh KushareTejaswin Shankar and AadarshRam will look to light up the evening session in the men’s high jump final. Kushare heads into the CWG on a high after breaking the national record with a jump of 2.31m and is currently fourth in the world list. Shankar, on the other hand, won bronze in the previous edition, while Ram had a personal best of 2.27m.In the men’s long jump qualification, Murali Sreeshankar and Lokesh Sathyanathan will play, while Gurindervir Singh begins his campaign in the opening round of the men’s 100m. Gurindervir broke the national record in Ranchi with a time of 10.09 seconds and looks confident of putting up a good performance on his CWG debut.