Dubai: Srikanth Kidambi is in the form of his life ahead of next month’s Badminton World Championships and now wants to use his newfound confidence to match the Indian women for consistency in big events.
The 24-year-old, who was born in Ravulapalem, but lives in Hyderabad, has reached the past three finals and won the last two events on the 13-stage Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super Series — which wraps up in Dubai, December 13-17 — putting him top of the current series standings.
He was off for three months after the Olympics with a stress fracture on his ankle, but under new Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo since February, he’s come back stronger.
Losing to compatriot B. Sai Praneeth in the final in Singapore in April, he then immediately followed it up with final victories over Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai and China’s Chen Long to win respective back-to-back events in Indonesia and Australia last month.
It has seen him rise from 29th to 21st in the world rankings after Singapore and then from 21st to 11th after Indonesia and 11th to eighth after Australia.
“The past couple of months I’ve been in the best form of my life, I don’t think I’ve ever played so well,” he told Gulf News in an exclusive phone interview this week.
However, the next event is not until next month, and it’s the annual Badminton World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland from August 21-27, a tournament where Srikanth has twice failed to get beyond the third round in 2014 and 2015.
“I’ve always had the chance [to go further] but just couldn’t capitalise on it,” he adds of his form at the Worlds.
It’s a stark contrast to the Indian women, P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, who between them have five Olympic and World Championship medals, to Kidambi’s none.
World No.5 Sindhu, 22, has an Olympic silver from Rio 2016 and two bronze World Championship medals from 2013 and 2014, while World No.15 Nehwal, 27, has an Olympic bronze from London 2012 and a World Championship silver from 2015.
The furthest Kidambi has been in an Olympics meanwhile is the quarter-finals last year.
“Indian women’s singles players have really performed well at major events and we – the men – need to be more consistent and start performing at major events too, I feel that’s where we’re lacking, but otherwise we’ve been winning events, playing well and beating the top players, just not enough to go on and win a major tournament.
“I don’t know the answer as to why that is, if I did it wouldn’t have taken this long to correct,” he said, but buoyed by his current form he’s now ready to remedy that situation.
“I would say with the way we are training now and with our experience under new coaches, if everything adds up I definitely think it will be easier to become more consistent.”
Training under Hondoyo, who led fellow Indonesian Taufik Hidayet to Olympic gold at Athens 2004, has been the reason for his recent improved form, he said.
“Mulyo has trained for a long time and made Hidayet the Olympic champion, so that experience is really helping us.
“After my injury my whole mindset also changed, I started playing and beating a few higher ranked players in earlier rounds and slowly my confidence has built from there.
“During those three months off I wasn’t doing anything, I wasn’t in a rush to get back, I just wanted it to heal so it didn’t reoccur, and I think that has also helped.”
He now faces a wait for the World Championships but hopes to continue his form.
“It would have been good if I had a tournament this month [July] to keep the momentum going, but every time I’ve had more time to train between tournaments I’ve played really well, so it’s just about maintaining that form and staying fit.
“I’ve been training well and haven’t set any targets for myself other to just train well and play myself when I’m there.
“If I really play my 100 per cent I have a good chance of doing well there, but it’s such a big tournament and even from the first round it’s tough, everyone prepares well and comes in to play their best, so I will need to play well from the beginning.”
Asked if he felt his recent form made him the man to beat, with everyone now studying his game, he replied: “I’m not thinking about what others are thinking I’m just thinking about myself and playing my game.”
His back-to-back wins in Indonesia and Australia earned him a meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month and, he said, the reaction to his achievement back home was good for popularising sports other than just cricket. Especially as it came just as India had lost the final of the ICC Champions Trophy to neighbouring Pakistan in England, giving Indian sports fans some much needed cheer amid the heartache.
“It’s been a fantastic reaction and everyone has been excited, I met the Prime Minister, Sports Minister [Vijay Goel], and everyone’s happy including my family, academy and my coaches.
“It’s always exciting to meet the Prime Minister and not everyone gets to do it, not even if they’re an athlete, so I really feel lucky and happy to have met him.
“India is starting to do well in other sports, other than just cricket, and we have been able to get Olympic medals, so it’s really opening up now, it’s only a matter of results improving and once we start doing well, more sports will come into the limelight for sure.”
Top of the Super Series standings after round six of the 13-stage series, Kidambi is now a dead cert for a top eight finish, qualifying him for December’s finals in Dubai, where he has previously only played twice in 2014 and 2015. He reached the semis in his first appearance but failed to get out the group the following year, and is now looking for more.
“It’s always good to play the Super Series Finals, I’ve played in it twice before but unfortunately missed out on qualifying last year. I’m looking forward to playing in it this year and I think if I continue playing well I’ll definitely have a good chance there.”
