Scintillating Srikanth smashes it in Sydney

After winning the Aus Open badminton, India’s Kidambi Srikanth sets the bar higher for himself

Kidambi Srikanth couldn’t have asked for a better performance in the lead-up to the BWF World Championship of badminton to be held in August at Glasgow in Scotland.

On 25 June, the wiry shuttler extended his sterling form when he won the Australian Open badminton in Sydney. This was his second win in a week after winning the Superseries title in Indonesia. He also reached the finals in the Singapore Open.

And yet, he says his best is yet to come.

“I am really playing well. I am very confident and this is the best I ever played so far but the best is yet to come,” Srikanth said during a recent interview.

The Australian Open Superseries saw a change in fortune for the Indian after he had lost five times in a row earlier to reigning world and Olympic champion Chen Long, who won consecutive World Championships in 2014 and 2015.

“I beat him for the first time. I was very happy as I did it in a final of a Superseries,” the 24-year-old Srikanth said

The Guntur player, who defeated Chen 22-20, 21-6 in straight games, has also entered the top ten of the BWF men’s singles rankings for the first time in 10 months.

Srikanth is now the only Indian player to win the Superseries Premier, Superseries and Grand Prix Gold titles.

Hallmark of a champion

The Australian Open had a star-studded line-up, but Srikanth wasn’t one of them, certainly not at the start of the tournament. In fact, he was unseeded when the Australian Open began. But, with his stunning display of skill, grit and determination, he set the badminton world alight with a breathtaking exhibition of stroke play.

This was the 4th BWF Super Series title for the 24-year-old from Ravulapalem, Andhra Pradesh, who started off his professional career in 2008. At the peak of his career in 2015, Srikanth was ranked World No 3. The Hyderabad-based shuttler, who trains at the Gopichand Academy, had made headlines first in 2014 when he won the China Open Super Series tournament against former World No. 1 and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan (21-19, 21-17) in a historic upset.

He made it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open Super Series in 2016 and then backed it up with a quarter-final finish at the 2016 Rio Games where he stretched Lin Dan to three tight games. He had since slipped a few places due to a stress fracture induced break and currently occupies the 11th position in the World Men’s Singles Ranking which no doubt will improve further after Sydney success when the new rankings are released on 30 June.

Srikanth joined Indonesia’s Sony Kuncoro, Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, and the Chinese duo of Chen Long and Lin Dan to become only the fifth player in the world to have featured in three successive Super Series finals.

What makes the achievement even more special is the fact that Srikanth won the last two tournaments, a perfect preparation and huge boost for the forthcoming World

Championships in Glasgow in August. Sydney has been a happy hunting ground for Indians with Saina Nehwal winning the women’s singles crown in 2014 and 2016.

Flawless performance in Sydney

The badminton stadium at the picturesque Sydney Olympic Park on the cold wintry morning of 25 June 2017, was packed with thousands of Chinese supporters. However, a handful of vociferous Indians, waving the Indian tricolour and chanting constantly - ‘Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega’ (India will win) - provided crucial moral support to Srikanth.

Undeterred by the 0-5 loss record against Chen Long, Srikanth pinned Chen to the back of the court and kept things tight until he chose his moment to attack.

“I was prepared for a long match and determined not to make simple mistakes and allow Chen Long take control,” he said in an informal chat after the match. While his performance was spectacular, his heartfelt gesture at the end of the match was even more special. After thanking his Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo, who also was beaming with joy, Srikanth ran onto the other side of court to hug Chen Long, exhibiting sportsman spirit, the sign of a true champion.

He was thankful to the support from the spectators. “Out of 16 tournaments we play in a calendar year, we play only two in India. But the way people supported me was superb. I felt like playing at home,” he told Indian Link.

Moments after Srikanth’s win and amongst the euphoric celebrations by Indian spectators, an ardent Indian badminton fan, Malvika, who travelled especially from Hisar, India, to witness the Australian Open, was almost in tears. “I was expecting Saina or Sindhu to win here. Srikanth brought tears in my eyes when he stepped on the podium to receive the trophy. It was a dream come true,” she said.

Srikanth thanked India’s chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, his other coaches and the physio for his success. He also had a word of praise for the facilities at the Sydney Olympic Park. “The stadium we played in was huge and perfect for badminton. The way they organised it is superb.”

“These two weeks were fantastic not just for me but also for (compatriots) HS Prannoy and Sai Praneeth. It was an unfortunate semi-final for Prannoy at the Indonesian Open. I would have loved to play the final with him,” said Srikanth. Prannoy shocked defending champion Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the prequarterfinal and defeated Chen Long in the quarter-final but went down fighting to Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai in the semi-final.

A promising future

Is Srikanth going to be a better badminton player than the legendary Prakash Padukone? Having won 4 Super Series titles already in the much more fierce competition in the present era, many would say he is the finest male player India has produced. However, he is still humble. “I don’t think I can compare myself with Prakash Sir or Gopichand Sir. I need to achieve a lot more to compare myself with them,” he said. If his achievements are signs of things to come, Indian fans can brace themselves for even more laurels in the coming months from Srikanth.

Yogendra Bhatnagar, Harshad Pandharipande and IANS

Rising Star Kidambi Srikanth