Fit Kidambi Srikanth eyes success in 2022

The shuttler has now played five back-to-back tournaments in a span of close to two months, and even reached the semis at the Hylo Open in Germany. “I’m really happy with the progress I have made. I cut down on my errors, I was competing until the end,” Kidambi Srikanth told Olympics.com.

“This year has mostly been about practice for me. I played at the start of 2021, then had to take a break because the Olympics were happening. Only the last two months have been a period of continuous action, so it has given me a routine.”

Getting some practice under his belt has been useful, which has helped him identify a key area to improve upon -- closing the matches. He also talked about his semifinal match against Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia. 

“I had my chances in that match. It was 19-19 in the first game and 20-20 in the second and those one or two points decided the encounter. It is a game of fine margins. I am very happy that I reached here and now it’s about getting better from here,” said Srikanth.

After attaining full physical fitness, mental aspect is what he wants to work upon. 

“I am a person who likes to stay in the moment, I don’t like to think too much of the end result or losing a previous point. Yoga gives me the energy to control my thoughts and cut out the white noise,” revealed Srikanth.

Now that he back in full swing, he wants to focus on winning gold, at whatever event he participates in. 

“I’m confident about my body now. The target obviously is to win gold - I always play to win - and I want to take it one tournament at a time,” said Srikanth.

“I’ll tell myself to keep working hard and not give up. I feel I am almost there, it's just about winning some important matches to return to my best form,” he signed off.