After small break, back to grind: Kidambi Srikanth

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 22

Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth can’t express his happiness after he became the first Indian man to win a silver medal at the badminton World Championships. It came as a welcome relief for the 28-year-old, who had a bad time with form and fitness in the last two years as he also missed the Tokyo Olympics. Fresh from the podium finish, Srikanth says he is looking forward to a short break before hitting the straps again. Excerpts:

How happy are you with the way you played in Huelva?

I am very happy with the way I played. The whole week was good. I played well in tournaments leading up to the Worlds. I did well at the French Open and the German Open, played a few three setters and then went for the World Team Championships. I felt a little niggle in the knee but then I decided to focus on the World Championships and planned well for it so I am very happy. I will probably take a couple of days off and then we will go into analysing what went wrong in the final (against Loh Kean Yew).

Did the marathon semifinal against Laksya Sen take a toll on you?

No, nothing like that. I recovered well after the semis and was feeling fine. It is just that one or two crucial points made a huge difference in the match. I think I have to cut down on unforced errors and just keep working hard.

Your coach P Gopichand has also said that you need to cut down on errors.

He is right. I can’t keep giving up easy or quick points to the opponents. The only counter is to work harder.

Does this medal balm over the hurt of missing out on the Tokyo Olympics?

I was very disappointed to miss out. It was not in my hands as at least seven or eight qualifying tournaments were cancelled (due to coronavirus). There isn’t anything a player can do under the circumstances, except thinking ahead. I told myself there will be more tournaments after the Olympics.

Do you feel you are reaching the heights of 2017 again?

I don’t really like to compare from what I was doing in 2017. My only focus is to train hard and do well in matches. Let’s see how I perform in other big tournaments. We have the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and another World Championships next year. I am really looking forward to the India Open next year.

With the new variant emerging, are you worried it may impact sports again?

Things like that are not in our hands. The only thing a player can do is train hard and stay fit. As for the scare, I was very happy to participate in the 8-9 tournaments that had stringent Covid protocols. I have got used to bio-bubbles. Right now I am motivated to win the Indian Open.