No stranger to adversity, Shanti Pereira aims to put injury setback behind her as Olympics nears

SINGAPORE: Life in the past year has taken Shanti Pereira to all sorts of places, from standing on top of medal podiums to being feted at awards ceremonies marking her achievements. 

But it also led her somewhere else she didn't want to be last month.A clinic.

Whether she liked it or not, life in the fast lane would have to slow down.

It was close to two months into a training stint in Florida that Pereira began noticing a slight pain in her right calf.

The Singaporean had been there since the first week of February for sessions at the National Training Centre in Orlando.

"There was no significant moment that caused it, it's just that over time it got a bit more painful," she told CNA in an exclusive interview on Thursday (May 16).

The injury got a bit more "worrying" after she competed in a 400m race at the University of Florida. Pereira finished fifth but broke the 400m national record. 

"I thought I'd just let it rest for a few days, because after that I was going to come back to Singapore," she recalled.

But with the pain showing no signs of subsiding after a training session, Pereira knew she had to seek medical advice. While she was hoping for the best, she was bracing for bad news.

Scans would reveal a stress injury inher fibula.

It came as a big blow to Pereira as it meant she would miss her debut in the Diamond Leaguecompetition in Xiamen and Shanghai, as well as two major meets in Japan among other competitions.

The Diamond League is a one of the most elite competitions in athletics, with 15 one-day invitational events held all over the world, contested by the world's top athletes.

"I think I already knew that I had to give these competitions a miss just because of the pain I was in. And just being realistic - when I got