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What’s the story?
Ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2018 to be held in Gold Coast, Australia from April 5, Indian shuttlers engaged in an intense practice session at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. World No. 12 HS Prannoy provided a snippet of their preparations when he posted a video on his Instagram account on Friday.
In it, both Prannoy and World No. 2 Kidambi Srikanth are involved in a multi-shuttle doubles drill along with B Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram. Srikanth and Prannoy, who will be spearheading the Indian men’s singles challenge, sharpened their lifts, clears and smashes through the drill.
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In case you didn’t know
Srikanth and Prannoy will be aiming to emulate the feats of Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi and Parupalli Kashyap when they begin their campaign Down Under next week. The former World No. 1 Padukone was crowned the champion in 1978 and Syed Modi brought the gold back to India in the next edition in 1982.
Kashyap won the men’s singles gold again in 2014 after a gap of 32 years.
The heart of the matter
The Indian contingent got less than two weeks’ time to polish their game after returning from the All England Open in a hectic schedule for Asian shuttlers. While Saina Nehwal will hope to repeat her 2010 glory, Sindhu will look to use the confidence she gained from her semi-final finish at Birmingham and convert it into a medal.
Prannoy was the best men’s singles performer at the All England Open, where he narrowly bowed out in the quarter-finals. It will inspire him to carry that form forward at Gold Coast. Kidambi Srikanth had an early exit and will look to put it behind him and add another feather to his illustrious resume.
What’s next?
The badminton competition will begin with the mixed team event from April 5. Each tie will consist of five matches -- men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
On its conclusion, the individual competition will commence on April 10 and will continue will April 15.
Author’s take
Badminton is one of India’s strongest bets for the gold medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Let us hope this hard work by the Indian shuttlers pays off and they get to stand on the podium.
