Srikanth searches for old spark
Grappling with bad run gone far too long, former No 1 looks to enter top 16 to qualify for Olympics
NEW DELHI: When Kidambi Srikanth burst on to the international scene, a combination of attack, deception and sublime net control made him a joy to watch. In November 2014, he made heads turn in Fuzhou, China, when he brought down the biggest name in badminton—twotime Olympic and five-times world champion Lin Dan—in his backyard, the China Open Super Series final. To beat “Super Dan” in front of a partisan crowd was a daring act, and the 21-year-old Srikanth made a big statement, becoming the first Indian male to win a Super Series title.
Two years later, he again clashed with his idol Dan at the Rio Olympics and Srikanth put up a strong resistance, bowing out in the quarter-finals 6-21, 21-11, 18-21. The skill and fight Srikanth displayed in Rio confirmed that he was ready for a long reign among the top echelons of world badminton. The following year, he dominated the circuit with four Super Series titles in a calendar year. Riding on the success, Srikanth became No 1 for a brief period in 2018 and India started looking at him as a prime contender for a medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Then the fall started; a steep one at that. An inexplicable and puzzling turn of events has seen the Guntur boy hurtling from one defeat to another, till he has reached a point where even qualifying for Tokyo looks farfetched.
Currently placed 26th on the Race to Tokyo rankings, Srikanth will have to turn things around big time to get into the top-16, which will guarantee him a ticket to the Olympics. Even Parupalli Kashyap (21st) and Sourabh Verma (22nd) have fared better during the one-year qualification period that ends on April 26. B Sai Praneeth, currently placed 11th, is the only Indian who looks comfortable to seal a Tokyo berth.
The first-round losses in the Malaysia and Indonesia Masters this month have come as a huge blow to Srikanth’s chances, and to cover the distance he needs some big wins under his belt, starting with the Thailand Open this week.
In 11 tournaments Srikanth has played during the qualification period, he has lost in either the first or second round in eight of them. His best has been a semifinal appearance in Hong Kong, with luck playing a big role. His first-round opponent and World No 1 Kento Momota pulled out, and Olympic champion Chen Long of China retired hurt in the quarter-finals. Still, Srikanth could not make the most of it and lost to Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the semi-finals.
India’s chief coach Pullela Gopichand says Srikanth has to play “really well” to nurture any chance of qualifying for the Olympics.
“If he does very well he has a chance but for that he has to play really well. He has been working hard on his game and I am confident he will make a comeback soon,” says Gopichand.
Srikanth has struggled with niggles. He took a break to recover from a knee injury in September and decided to skip the Premier Badminton League to focus on Olympic qualification. If last year was agonising as Srikanth tried to regain form, the Olympic year has begun with expectations piling up.
The good thing is that he is carrying no niggles and is physically fit, confirms Gopichand.
Also, there are still enough tournaments for him to make a dash on the home stretch. There are four BWF Tour events (Super 500 or more)—all England, India Open, Malaysia Open and Singapore Open—and three Super 300 events (Spain, German and Swiss). Except India Open, where he reached the final in 2019, he will not have big points to defend.
In order to progress to the later stages of major tournaments, Srikanth needs to free himself from the thought of qualifying for the Olympics and bring the joy back in his game, feels national selector and former coach Vimal Kumar. “The mental state he is in we don’t know. He must be putting himself under a lot of pressure—that could be a factor when you are going through a slump, you do more and more training. He needs to analyse that. He needs to get the joy back in his training sessions and should not go through (them) mechanically,” said Kumar.
Srikanth’s game is built around his finesse at the net, where he has made the likes of Lin Dan and Chen Long look like bystanders. The control at the net allows him to dictate the pace and play his attacking shots—the smash, the reverse slice etc. Never the one to play long rallies, Srikanth has always been eager to finish off points and, therefore, his defence has been suspect at times.
“He has lost confidence in his tumble at the net, dribbles, and needs to get that back. He needs to be at the net early and dominate there and then go on the attack. When someone is counterattacking, he is becoming vulnerable. He needs a lot of work there,” said Kumar.
In Srikanth’s case the bad run has stretched far too long; close to two years to be precise. He has lost not only to big names, but to rank outsiders, which has dented his confidence. Last year, when he reached India Open final in March, it was after a gap of 17 months that he was in a title contest in a BWF Superseries event.
“When you have more of these defeats you start asking yourself what would happen. Now since he is not in the top-eight, he is running into top players in earlier round. “There are different opponents, lot of players younger to him and it is tough at the top. But I still feel his game, his quality of strokes is much better than many of the players he is losing to. Somehow he has to find these things back in,” said Kumar.
Another senior national selector Arvind Bhat said his fitness levels are still low and that is stopping him from going all out.
“Between 2014-17, he was an explosive player and he had some unorthodox shots with which he just blasted through. He could hit some unbelievable shots from out of position and overhead he was very tricky. He was also physically very fit,” says former international Bhat.
“When you are physically not fit, it affects you mentally too. You don’t believe that you can last long rallies,” he said. “Once you get to the top and become world No 1, people start to figure you out. You have to match up, be physically fit and adapt.”
Bhat feels Srikanth still doesn’t have the ability to play long rallies, and the way the game has changed, he needs to be ready for an hour-and-a-halflong matches.
“He likes to finish rallies quickly. In today’s game, if you see the top guys—momata or Chen Long, San Won Ho—they play long rallies. The first thing is to beat the opponent with fitness, by making him run around rather than hitting some spectacular shots,” he said.