For K. Srikanth, the promising Indian shuttler, it seemed it was the end of all his hopes when he fell unconscious during the training session at Gopi Chand Academy here a few weeks ago.
But, now the 21-year-old is back on court and going through training schedules along with his teammates for the Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
“Yes, I am going to compete in the singles and whatever happened is now past. I am in a much better frame of mind,” said Srikanth, whom chief national coach P. Gopi Chand tips to be one of the strong favourites to win a medal.
For the record, some of the major wins Srikanth recorded in recent times were over Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark (then World No. 6) in the first round of 2013 India Open and over World No. 7 Boonsak Ponsanna in the final of Thailand Open Grand Prix.
Positive “I look at the illness (the fall was attributed due to viral fever) this way. If it had happened say now or even one week ago, it would have meant disaster ahead of the CWG,” the national champion said.
“I am lucky that I had enough time to recover and prepare well for the Games. I am back to rigorous training now. I am pretty comfortable,” he said.
In fact, the decision to include him in the CWG squad was taken after he successfully passed the fitness test and lasted a couple of intensive training sessions.
“I just want to perform really well on the given day, as I always prefer. I don’t set any goals and I am confident of a good showing,” said Srikanth, the winner of the 2013 Thailand Open Grand Prix.
No pressure “I don’t feel any pressure — either because of the break in training or by way of expectations,” said Srikanth. For his part, Gopi Chand is “pleased with the mental toughness of Srikanth and his indefatigable spirit to keep going.”
