Kidambi Srikanth blames National Championships for injury
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Kidambi Srikanth has claimed that his participation in the 82nd Senior National Championships in Nagpur aggravated his injury. The star Indian shuttler has also blamed the event for his poor performance in the Dubai Superseries Finals which cost him the No. 1 spot in the BWF rankings.
Srikanth has been exceptional this year as he became the first Indian badminton player, male or female, to grab four Superseries titles in a single calendar year. Later, a leg injury during the National Badminton Championships forced him to stay out of the China Open and he decided to skip Hong Kong Open as well, so he could recover from the injury. But that impacted his performance in the Dubai World Superseries as he had to bow out from the league stage of the tournament.
"I think yes. I played those two tournaments (the Denmark and French Open Superseries) in two weeks. I played all the ten matches and right after that, I came back and had to play the Nationals. If I would have skipped that, I wouldn't have suffered the injury. It would have given me more time to rest my body, train and play other tournaments," said the world No. 3 on the sidelines of the third edition of the Premier Badminton League as quoted by TOI.
But, he stated that he doesn't think a lot about it now and believes he can inspire many people by playing the nationals.
"As the senior player, if I can't do something for this sport then it doesn't really help anybody."
The injury spoiled his dream of becoming the No. 1 player and also ruined his preparations for the year-end Dubai Superseries Finals where he had found a place in the Group B of men's singles along with World No.1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, Chou Tien Chen, and Shi Yuqi. After losing his matches against them, he had to follow the exit door.
"I expected myself to play better but I hadn't played many international tournaments ahead of the event and that really made the difference. If it would have been any other
The new BWF calendar was criticized by the top players like Saina Nehwal and Carolina Marin due to its hectic schedule. Earlier, PV Sindhu gave an idea of a pick and choose and it seemed that Srikanth also liked the idea which will help them to be available for the whole year.
"Next year, it's definitely going to be tough with the increased number of Superseries events and the Commonwealth and Asian Games. It's packed. It's important for me to think about my body, my fitness, and plan for the tournaments. Definitely, I am going to pick and choose."
