After missing the Rio Olympics due to a knee surgery, a rejuvenated Parupalli Kashyap has his eyes set on regaining his spot in the Indian team and defend his title at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
When Kashyap injured his knee during the German Open last year, little did he know that it would be the end of his Olympic dream. After competing in the India Super Series, Kashyap realised his knee won’t heal in time and will miss his second Olympics Games.
However, he recovered from the injury and made a comeback in the Premier Badminton League in January. But, he then injured his shoulder and was out of action once again.
Now back to full fitness, Kashyap has the task of racking up enough ranking points to earn a place in the Commonwealth Games team.
“It has been a difficult phase for me to go through the whole injury phase. First it was knee which ended my Olympic dream and then the shoulder injury. But I am feeling good now, I am fit and I am happy with my performance at China Masters Grand Prix Gold,” said Kashyap. “I will get better as I play more. It was just the first tournament in four months and I will now have to improve my ranking enough to be selected in the team for the Commonwealth Games, so that I can defend my title. It will be challenging but I will give it a shot. It is difficult but possible,” he added. A former World No. 6, Kashyap is now ranked 80.
During the injury lay-off, his compatriots like Sameer Verma and Sai Praneeth started winning tournaments.
“It is a very healthy competition. We have some good players in India now and it helps to train against them. There is Srikanth, Sameer, Praneeth, all these guys are fantastic players. So I will really need to work hard to achieve my target,” Kashyap said.
RMV Gurusaidutt, who had won the bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, also underwent a major surgery for a nagging ankle problem in October last year and has been out of international circuit ever since.
The 27-year-old is playing his first tournament at the ongoing PSPB inter-unit badminton Championship in Bangalore.
“It has been a long way to recovery. I have been training hard and played in the academy against my fellow players but this is the first event since my surgery. It will help me to test my fitness and recovery,” he said.
Asked about next year’s Commonwealth Games, Guru said, “I don’t think I will give it a shot because it is still early days since my recovery and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself and get injured again. So I will take one match, one event at a time.”