India, May 14 -- Late last month, when Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath ran 1:48.33 to finish fourth at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championship in Kochi, he had lingering doubts about his technique and potential.

He had started the season with a win at the National Games in Dehradun in February and followed it up with a second-place result at the Indian Grand Prix 1 in Bengaluru in March. The timings, however, were disappointing - 1:49.13 and 1:47.09 respectively.

The Federation Cup was his third successive below-par run (1:48.33) in as many outings, and so Afsal approached his coach Ajith Markose at the Reliance Foundation centre in Bengaluru.

"We went through a few of my races and the coach concluded that I was slipping tac...