While PV Sindhu soared and carried Indian badminton to a new high by winning the Rio Olympic silver medal, the rest of the top Indian shuttlers had injury-plagued seasons. The India No. 1 men’s singles player Kidambi Srikanth is one of them who had his 2016 season cut short by an ankle injury just when he was looking at his confident best.
At the Japan Open Superseries where he was the only Indian to reach the quarter-finals, he hurt his ankle that proved to be a severe injury and he was forced to wrap up his 2016 season.
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Now the 23-year-old Pullela Gopichand protégé is slowly gearing up for next year. He started his rehab only recently and looks to get back to full training after the Premier Badminton League in January, as told to ESPN last week.
“I only started my rehab a week ago followed by training,” Srikanth said, adding, “It’s going a little slow now. Maybe after the league, I’ll be back to full training.”
The Guntur-born shuttler performed with gusto at the Rio Games where he was close to toppling the defending champion Lin Dan in the quarter-finals only to go down in the end. Had he won, he would have become the first Indian men’s player to reach the semi-finals.
The narrow miss definitely hurts even today as Srikanth admitted.
“Before the match I knew it would be a life-changing experience. Had I won, I would have become the first Indian male badminton player to make the Olympic semi-finals. And the kind of form that I was in in Rio, I had a very good chance against any player,” he rued.
'Starting out as a doubles player helped in my rise'
The young ace had fast climbed up the ranking charts in the last couple of years. Ever since he stopped Lin Dan at the China Open final in November, 2014, Srikanth had put the spotlight back on men’s singles badminton. His jump smashes and variety have earned plaudits which undoubtedly helped him in his swift rise.
Srikanth has credited it to his prowess in doubles in his early years.
“Until my juniors I played all three events (singles, doubles, mixed doubles), but once you enter the seniors you need to change your game, strokes and strategies,” the World No. 13 said.
“There’s the danger of becoming predictable. My early years’ doubles training is something that keeps me different from other players, so I wanted to retain it even after I was solely focusing on singles. It adds an element of intrigue,” he explained.
The Awadhe Warriors player is the costliest Indian at the upcoming PBL2 at Rs. 51 lakh. He spoke highly of the platform the pan-Indian league is giving to rising stars to gauge themselves against the very best. He even singled out his huge upset win over the Malaysian superstar Lee Chong Wei in the previous edition as a match that boosted his confidence ahead of Rio.
“When I played my first IBL in 2013, I was a junior and just the opportunity of playing alongside top-ranked players like [Lee] Chong Wei helped me fathom international standards,” the former World No. 3 said.
“At the PBL at the start of this year, I won against Chong Wei and that was a massive boost for my confidence ahead of the Olympics,” he added.
For now, Srikanth has only set his sights on the PBL2 and the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold both of which are scheduled in January and has refused to look too far ahead. Instead, working on consistency is of paramount importance he has emphasised: “I’m being a little picky with tournaments for now. I need to work on my consistency.”
