The year of badminton
Sports stars from Hyderabad talk about why it was their year
Hyderabad: ‘My best is yet to come’
Parupalli Kashyap made the country proud by winning gold at the Commonwealth Games after 32 years in Indian sports history.
“After a lot of missed opportunities, I got a gold at Commonwealth Games this year my marked moment. My family too was extremely happy for they all knew about my efforts. But I could have managed my training and planned my tournaments better.
“My best is yet to come. In 2015, I want to win a medal at the World Championships and get back in the top 10 rankings. The next year is also crucial because we have the Olympic qualification event,” he adds.
‘Dr P.V. Sindhu’
Sindhu still has no airs, despite the record of being the first Indian to have won medals in back-to-back World Championships. There were other moments too.
“I was recently conferred a doctorate by the Chennai Vels University. I was quite honoured by the gesture, to have received a doctorate at the age of 19. My sister is a doctor and she lives in the US. When I was young, my mother used to tell me that even I should get a doctorate. And I already have that.”
“I want to do better. I want to win at a Super Series game. Currently, I’m ranked at 11 but I want to be in the top six soon,” she says.
Fabulous no. 4!
Srikanth Kidambi was struggling at the start of 2014 and in just a few months, he found himself ranked World No. 4!
“Winning China Open against five times World Champion and two times Olympic champion Lin Dan is my marked moment of the year. And then last Wednesday, I was with my family when I got to know about my ranking. I was just ecstatic. The first thing I did was tell my parents and message Gopi Sir.”
Hailing from Guntur, the shy shuttler has been living in Hyderabad since five years, at the academy hostel.
And Srikanth has a fixed agenda for 2015. “I want to start off next year with wins. We have two tournaments in January and I’m working hard to do well in them.”