CHENNAI: There was a time when 100m hurdler K Nandini and national-record holder Jyothi Yarraji would often trade places on the podium in age-group categories. While Jyothi found the right guidance and surged ahead, Tamil Nadu’s Nandhini struggled, eventually forcing her to quit athletics for nearly four months in 2023.Three years later, the 27-year-old is headed to the Asian Games after rebuilding her career. She clocked a personal best of 13.22 seconds at the Inter-State meet in June to breach the Asiad qualifying mark and followed it up by finishing on top at the recent Indian Athletics Series Final.“I have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. Like I approach other competitions, I will approach the Asian Games in the same way and not put myself under pressure. The aim is to clock below 13 seconds, and I am able to do that in training,” Nandhini told TOI.She had to train on her own for three years after her coach, Nagarajan, with whom she had trained for nearly a decade, left due to personal reasons. She was in search of a coach but could not find one who could take her to the next stage before joining hands with Pradeep from Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT).“Training alone, it was hard to motivate myself. It was during this period that I quit sports and started preparing for the Income Tax exam. I took the decision because I felt like I was wasting time and that age was catching up. In between, I received a call letter for Income Tax recruitment through the sports quota, and they asked me to come for trials. I did not want to let this opportunity go, so I slowly started training again. But I could not make it.“I deliberately did not attend many competitions because I knew I would not perform well. Coach Pradeep had good knowledge and was working elsewhere. I was waiting to train under him, but his appointment at the SDAT was delayed. Once we got together, we did not try to improve my timings quickly because my technique was poor and I was mentally very weak. He understood what I needed. I did not win any medal for eight months but believed in the process. While I could not medal, I kept improving my timings slowly.”