KOCHI: Over the last three weeks, P C Thulasi has been relentlessly trying to work up her aggression.
The lack of that particular quality, she said, had limited her chances of progression in the Uber Cup two months ago and the Star Australian Super series last month.
But ahead of the CWG, Thulasi feels she has plugged that drawback and is all primed for the challenge. The 23-year old is the only shuttler from Kerala to have found a berth in the Indian badminton squad, which also includes ace players Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. Their batch will leave for Delhi on July 18, before heading to Glasgow the next day.
“I have learned a lot from the Uber Cup and the Australian series. Throughout those events, I followed a defensive line of game, which was pragmatic but not sufficiently effective. Instead, I should have focused more on attack,” Thulasi, whose good run in both the tournaments ended after some eye-catching performances, said over phone from Hyderabad.
“You run the risk of slipping in some errors when you are aggressive, but a fair amount of it is always good. Aggression is a powerful emotion that drives you to go all out and win a point at the most unfavourable moments of the game,” she said.
“You need it to win some tough games,” added Thulasi, who is set to make her CWG debut. In 2012, she had won gold in the Youth Commonwealth Games in Pune in the doubles event with N Sikki Reddy.
Though not as tough as the Asian Championships due to the absence of heavyweights like China and Japan, she said Commonwealth Games was a prestigious event and hoped to win a medal for the country in Glasgow.
“I’m certain of Saina and Sindhu winning medals and I’m hoping to join them on the victory stand,” she said.
Thulasi was part of the Indian team that won a historic bronze, for the first time, in the Uber Cup at New Delhi in May.
After posting wins in the ties against Canada and Hong Kong as the third singles player, she lost to the 16th-ranked Eriko Hirose of Japan in the semifinal.