Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Feb 28: Racing against time to seal his Olympic berth, a fit-again Parupalli Kashyap is back in the hunt for the Rio spot after recovering from a series of injuries which derailed his preparation for the Summer Games.
Kashyap will be participating in three tournaments on the European circuit starting with German Grand Prix Gold from Wednesday, followed by the prestigious All England Championship and Swiss Grand Prix Gold.
“I’ve butterflies in the tummy. After four months of intensive training and rehab, it feels great to be back on the international circuit. All England open and Swiss Open to follow soon,” said Kashyap, who will take on Ukraine’s Artem Pochtarev in his opening round of German Open.
“I didn’t play the BAC in Hyderabad, I was training then. I just want to do well in the first match and rest will fall into place. I am happy with my preparation, I have reached a good level now considering where I was two months back.
“So it is one tournament at a time for me. With the experiences that I had last few months, can’t think ahead more than today. I’ll need all the best wishes to help me perform my best in the upcoming season,” he added.
Once the World No.8, Kashyap has now slipped to 17, owing to a series of injuries which started with the calf muscle tear in October last year. He played in the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold but could not defend the title.
“I lost out a lot of time because of the injury. I missed out on as many as seven tournaments. I managed to play at PBL and Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold but again I had an abdominal strain in Lucknow and I had to withdraw from Thailand Masters as well,” Kashyap said.
