Srikanth eyes greater glory
A slip here, nip there. Srikanth Kidambi has endured it all. For a player who has fallen down, gotten up and punched hard again several times over, the World Championship silver medal sits nicely in the cupboard. Shines bright too.
Back home on Tuesday after becoming the first Indian male to win a silver at badminton’s most prestigious tournament, the 28year-old was grinning earto-ear as he lapped up the adulation of the trainees at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, where he honed his skills under the mentorship of coach Pullela Gopichand.
Gopi was indeed there to greet the gritty player as did others from the sporting fraternity. At the presser that followed, Srikanth was smooth as his game, often smashing questions and at times deftly playing the drop shots.
“I am happy to have peaked at the correct time. The World Championship has it’s own special significance and to play the final of such a major event is a great feeling,” the former world number one summed up his Spanish sojourn.
Prodded, he said he simply loved everything about his game, especially “my physical condition.”
“What I loved most was I was able to be aggressive throughout, it gave me immense confidence.”
The senior also had a word of praise for upcoming Indian Lakshya Sen, whom he beat in the semifinal. “It has been four-five years since I played a match with Lakshya. I have been watching his progress. He has been playing exceptionally well. I gave everything I got. That was one of the reasons for getting so tired. It was a long match. We both were There is no time to celebrate this win. Next year is again very important I feel as there are so many big events lined up — the India Open is starting from January 10; in March, we have the All England, then come the Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Asian Games. kind of aggressive throughout,” he explained.
The Worlds is almost behind Srikanth now, for he’s already looking ahead. “There is no time to celebrate this win. Next year is again very important I feel as there are so many big events lined up — the India Open is starting from January 10; in March, we have the All England, then come the Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Asian Games.
“The next 8 to 10 months are very important for me. So, I am looking at talking to Gopi anna (elder brother) and will work on what went wrong in the last few months. Even though I played the finals, there will definitely be some negatives, I have to work on them to become a better player,” Srikanth said.
Srikanth also shrugged off disappointment of not being able to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games this year. He was done in by Covid-triggered cancellation of qualifying tournaments. “If you look at it, I was still the highest ranked player from India. But, seven to nine tournaments got cancelled. First part of the qualification, I could not play because of my injury. Second part, the tournaments did not happen. I had no control over them,” he said.
— SRIKANTH KIDAMBI
Badminton World Championship silver medallist