Up and down, but Sai Praneeth holds steady on road to Tokyo

Pressure is bound to be there with the sport that has set high standards in the country.
Indian badminton star B Sai Praneeth (File | PTI)
Indian badminton star B Sai Praneeth (File | PTI)

CHENNAI: Form has evaded Indian shuttlers in recent times. And with the Olympic cycle on, it could not have come at a worse time. Fatigue due to increasing number of competitions, foreign rivals making rapid progress and Indians unable to meet the rigours are some of the reasons.

Left playing a chasing game, there’s genuine cause for concern as the April 30 cut-off date for Olympic qualification comes closer.

In this period of uncertainty, B Sai Praneeth is as relaxed as they come. As things stand, the shuttler from Andhra Pradesh — who’s No 11 in the race to Tokyo — is the lone Indian male likely to make an automatic cut for Tokyo. The top 16 shuttlers (maximum of two from each country) from the Olympic Qualifying Period are guaranteed to qualify.

Even though Sai Praneeth has struggled for consistency after his memorable bronze medal in the World Championships last August, he is not sweating over it. The 27-year-old has suffered four first-round defeats since that epic run in Basel. “As long as you’re playing well, you should be fine. The results won’t give a true depiction of your game, your fitness. I’m happy with the way I have been going along with my business so far,” assessed the player who is representing Bengaluru Raptorz in the Premier Badminton League.

With matches coming thick and fast, Sai Praneeth conceded that the players feel overworked sometimes. The Arjuna awardee felt that could be the main reason why Indians, who are yet to catch up fully in terms of fitness, have toiled. “It was tough given that we had to feature in back-to-back tournaments and we didn’t have any time to train. It was not all gloom as I believe I played well in a couple of tournaments in China. Towards the end of the year, I guess everybody was exhausted playing too many tournaments,” Sai Praneeth, who’ll be part of Badminton Asia Team Championship from February 11-16 in Manila, said.

More matches naturally means more travel. Training takes a backseat. Sai Praneeth is confident he can recover his A game with regular training. “We need time to train and perform. Sometimes, you lose focus as there are too many games. Also, once you suffer losses, you tend to lose confidence.”

For now, Sai Praneeth is just looking to avoid the medical room and dig deep. He knows where he stands in terms of making it to Tokyo and is intent on fetching enough points to seal the deal. “I’m just looking to maintain my game. It’s not the right time for experiments. We have enough quality in the camp to keep up our game.”

Pressure is bound to be there with the sport that has set high standards in the country. “If you take pressure, you won’t be able to do what you intend to. So, I try to keep worries at bay.”

Having been part of this cycle before, the pro revealed that coach Pullela Gopichand has given a free hand to all the shuttlers. “He just wants two Indians in the Olympics. For now, he doesn’t get involved much in choosing our tournaments as everyone is fighting for a berth and he doesn’t want to interfere. He knows that everybody will train hard and take part in as many tournaments as possible. Once the qualification is done, he’ll be more proactive and devise fresh plans for the ones who’ve made the cut.” Sai Praneeth looks good to be part of those plans.

Sindhu loses to tai
Tai Tzu-ying beat PV Sindhu 11-15, 15-13, 15-9 in a marquee match of PBL 5 in Hyderabad on Friday. Sindhu plays for Hyderabad Hunters. The Chinese Taipei star turns out for Bengaluru Raptors. The Raptors won four matches of the night. Peng Soon Chan and Rian Agung Saputro beat Ben Lane and Vladimir Ivanov 15-13, 9-15, 15-12. Brice Leverdez beat Sourabh Verma 15-12, 10-15, 15-6. Chan and Eom Hye Won lost Raptors’ Trump match 13-15, 11-15 to N Sikki Reddy and Ivanov. B Sai Praneeth rounded the night off with a 15-11, 15-6 victory over Malaysian Daren Liew.   

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