Post the Commonwealth Games in 2010, Parupalli Kashyap went from a promising youngster to being the face of men’s badminton in the country.
A consistent show at the 2012 London Olympics and the All-England Championship saw the sprightly Hyderabad lad grow in stature. But the current season hasn’t exactly panned out the way he would have wanted, with his ranking dropping to 13.
The composed 26-year-old is, however, far from being flustered as he gears up for the World Championships and the Indian Badminton League.
In a freewheeling interview, the Arjuna Awardee spoke about being the icon player for the Bengaluru franchisee Banga Beats and his preparations for the World Championship.
Excerpts:
On the advent of the IBL: There’s lot of publicity for badminton now and the money flowing into the sport will help it grow. When I was 17-18 I know how I used to struggle to play badminton. But if these tournaments become a success in India as the market is very big, any sport can be taken to any level. It’s a great initiative by all the owners and I think you can choose badminton as a career now.
On the gains of IBL: Personally for me it’s at the perfect time of my career as I’m playing really well. I’m ranked among the top 16 in the world. And I will get couple of good matches with the world number 1 and also against other top players in the world. This will give me experience and if I can get good wins against them, it will boost my confidence because next year there are a lot of tournaments.
On preparations for the IBL: We will prepare the same way we do for other tournaments. I’ve seen the schedule it’s not that hectic and players can train well. There are lot of matches and also rest days in between. Only when it gets to the later stages you have a match every day.
On his current form: In the couple of tournaments I’ve played since I reached the quarter-finals at the All-England I can say is that at Indonesia Open I didn’t do well. I was totally outplayed. But otherwise in the other two-three matches, I lost was close and lost on match point. I’m not very sad about it because I gave my hundred percent.
On the World Championships: I’m working on new things. I’ve also had time to train, which wasn’t the case earlier, so I’m sure I can give a good performance this time.
On changes in tactics: The conditions are different in China. It’s slower, a lot of long rallies, longer games so I have put in extra hours in training. I have worked on a couple things with my coach Gopichand Sir. We’re working on my defence and variations in my game. I hope everything comes out well.