Chief nationwide badminton coach Pullela Gopichand lauded Kidambi Srikanth for successful a historic silver medal on the World Championships, however mentioned he might want to lower his errors to remain constant by way of a busy 2022.
The 28-year-old from Guntur, a former world primary participant, on Sunday turned the primary Indian to win a silver medal on the prestigious event.
In the summit conflict, Srikanth, who’s presently ranked 14th, took a 9-3 and 18-16 lead in two matches in opposition to Loh Keen Yew to lose the coveted title.
“Srikanth’s game got faster and faster because of the tournament. He lacked confidence when he started playing this year but some performances against players like Li Zi Jia and Kento Momota gave him some confidence,” Gopichand advised PTI.
“He got his form on time but will need to make his errors more consistent as he prepares for the big year to come where big ticket events like Commonwealth Games, Asian Games will take place.”
Srikanth will defend his males’s singles title on the Commonwealth Games and is anticipated to play a much bigger position as India look to retain the blended crew gold in Birmingham.
He carried out brilliantly in 2017 to win 4 Super Series titles in 5 finals. This was a uncommon feat achieved by Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and Chen Long in only one calendar yr.
However, the yr ended with Srikanth struggling a knee damage throughout the French Open in November, and he escalated it to the nationwide championship.
The Andhra Pradesh-born shuttler managed to say the coveted Commonwealth Games gold at Gold Coast in 2018 and remained world primary for per week in April, however then got here the slide.
A knee damage and different niggles, particularly these associated to his ankle, affected his efficiency and he ultimately missed the Tokyo Olympics after three qualifiers have been canceled as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
“With back to back tournaments, sometimes it becomes difficult for a player to recover from an injury. Srikkanth was troubled by his injuries as he withdrew himself from it by putting Olympic qualification at stake,” Gopichand, 2001 All England champion, mentioned.
“But it’s good to see him retain the three-match long matches in Spain and he’s been playing consistently from the Sudirman Cup as well, so that’s a good sign.”
India had three gamers within the males’s singles quarter-finals, with Srikanth, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen additionally making it to the final eight.
While Lakshya misplaced to Srikanth and went all the way down to a bronze medal in his first try, former prime 10 participant Prannoy’s good run within the quarterfinals got here to an finish when he misplaced to eventual champion Loh Keen Yew of Singapore.
Gopichand mentioned that the great efficiency of the Indian males’s singles gamers is an effective signal for the crew forward of the busy 2022 season.
“It is sweet to see three shuttlers reaching the quarter-finals. While Srikanth reached the ultimate, I believe Lakshya additionally did very effectively and Prannoy additionally did effectively within the event. Praneeth performed effectively within the patch, Sameer is trying good too.
“It’s good to be on the bright side before an important season ahead,” he signed off.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
