World Championships silver medal-winning shuttler Kidambi eyeing top finishes in packed 2022 calendar without losing sight of 2024 Paris Olympics Games glory
Kidambi Srikanth during the World Championships in Spain last year. Pic/AFP
After winning a historic silver at the World Championships in Spain last month, India shuttler Kidambi Srikanth is back to the training grind at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. In last month’s final, Srikanth, 28, went down fighting to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 15-21, 20-22. In doing so, he bettered the World Championships feats of the legendary Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1983), B Sai Praneeth (bronze in 2019) and Lakshya Sen (bronze this edition).
Before peaking at the World Championships last year, Srikanth had reached the semi-finals of two events—Hylo Open [November 2 to 7] and Indonesia Masters [November 16 to 21] apart from a quarter-final finish at the Orleans Masters [March 23 to 28].
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Beyond 2022 too
While COVID-19 and his knee injury disrupted his chances of qualifying for the Tokyo Games, he is now targetting a podium finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Though the quadrennial event is two years away, he is determined to win some more medals before eyeing the bigger goal.
Talking about his short-term and long-term plans, Srikanth told mid-day: “This is an important one for me. There are events like the All England [March 16 to 20], Birmingham Commonwealth Games [July 28 to August 8] and Asian Games [September 10 to 25] among others. I want to do well and win more medals in 2022. I hope to do well at the India Open [January 11 to 16]. My long-term goal is a medal at the 2024 Olympics. The Games will always be at the back of my mind,” said Srikanth, who claimed four Super Series titles in 2017.
Srikanth wants to first sit with chief national badminton coach P Gopichand and analyse his recent performances. Post that, he’ll work on the areas Gopichand feels he can improve on.
Looking to Gopichand
“I want to get his feedback on my performances. We both will sit and analyse the final [in Spain] and work on the areas that he thinks I should improve upon. I need to work on the unforced errors,” explained the former World No.1. For Srikanth, who returned to the Top 10 BWF rankings after his stellar performance in Spain, this year is clearly more than just crucial for his Olympic dream.
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