Press Trust of India
New Delhi, July 13: He has endured a lacklustre season heading into the Olympics, but ace Indian shuttler K Srikanth said Wednesday the low phase has helped him prepare for the Games and he hopes to emerge as the dark horse in Rio next month.
Srikanth had the world at his feet when he became the first Indian to win a Super Series Premier men’s title in the 2014 China Open after beating two-time Olympic champion and five-time World Champion Lin Dan in the final.
A win at home in the India Super Series was the icing on the cake and propelled him to World No. 3 in June last year but then it all fell apart.
This year after emerging victorious in the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in January, Srikanth has failed to really impress. However, he said he was never worried about his Olympic qualification.
“I was tense but not for my qualification, it was my game that I was worried about since I knew if I can play well, I will automatically qualify,” World No.11 Srikanth said.
He also informed that he was never worried about his ranking, but that he was not getting the time to train. “I was playing one event after another and there was simply no time,” stated Srikanth. “But I think it kind of helped me identify the areas where I need to work on and it helped me in my preparations for the Olympics,” he added.
It was in May when the 23-year-old from Andhra Pradesh became one of the seven shuttlers to qualify for the Rio Games after the rankings were released. “I was happy to qualify. It was a big dream. I hope I can make India proud,” stated the usually reticent shuttler.
In spite of the focus of the world on two arch rivals, Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and China’s Lin Dan, the Indian shuttler wants to play the role of a dark horse.
“They are the most experienced players who have played in the last 2-3 Olympics and I think they will have an advantage. But nevertheless they will also be under pressure because of the expectations. So one can take advantage of the situation and I intend to be that one player,” asserted the shuttler.
Talking about his preparations for Olympics, he said: “It has been a good one-and-a-half months for me. After a long time, I could get a break and work on the overall aspects of my game.”