BENGALURU: After a period of lull, the Indian men's badminton ecosystem is again churning. Ayush Shetty has already made a big splash in the senior circuit. The 18-year-old Rounak Chouhan won his first senior international title last week, the Reunion Challenger.
At the same Reunion Challenger, a former junior World No 1 quietly ticked another box. Sankar Muthusamy advanced to the semifinals before losing to Chouhan in three games. While the result was disappointing, progression to the last four stage, his first of the year, was 'a positive'.
"My opponent played really well in the crucial moments," he told The New Indian Express a few days after the tournament. "But overall, I prefer to see the performances as a positive because it was my first semifinal of the year. It's a good platform and I can use it as a good sounding board for the rest of the year."
What has also helped Muthusamy in this journey of his was his decision to move to the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad late last year. It's been less than a year but he's already seeing some 'positive' changes 'to my game'.
"I could have gone there earlier (he was training at an academy in Chennai till then)," he said. "But I would like to think I made the move at the right time. Game wise, there are chances that you may have ignored the small details. And when you train there under those coaches, those small details will be spotted and worked on.
"For example, there, they have kept my defensive game but they have worked on incorporating offensive shots without changing my natural game so that I can finish off rallies sooner if an opportunity presents itself. My net game has improved a lot. It's stuff like that."
The World No 74, a new inductee into government funding from Tamil Nadu (the last two months), has planned to play in a string of Super 300 events (Macau, Canada and US) over the next few months. If he does well in those tournaments, he can well achieve his short-term goals of breaking into the upper echelons of the world ranking by the end of the year.