press trust of india
New Delhi, March 23: On a roll since his China Open triumph, ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth attributed his success and meteoric rise in the world rankings to a ‘never give up till the end’ attitude and said Monday that he ‘is ready to work harder’ to achieve the top spot in World rankings.
On the eve of the USD 2,75,000 India Open Super Series which starts here Tuesday, Srikanth said, “I don’t think I am better at wriggling out of tricky situations, it is just that I don’t give up till the last.”
Srikanth is the second seed in the event and will open his campaign Wednesday against Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, ranked World No. 19 at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here.
The shuttler is on a high after beating former World Champion Lin Dan and hoped to continue his good run. “Beating one of the legends of badminton in his country and that too in the final, it gives you a lot of confidence. I have performed well after that and I hope I can do a repeat act of my performance here as well. I hope we clash again here,” he said.
Asked if being World No. 1 is one of his targets, Srikanth said, “Becoming the World No. 1 is something great for a sportsman and I have that in my mind.”
Talking about his plans and expectations from the tournament, Srikanth said that he intended to do well. “It is a Super Series event so there won’t be any easy matches. I have to play really hard. Playing attacking badminton is my forte but I am also working hard on the other aspects of my game like preparing myself for long rallies,” Srikanth stated.