Hyderabad: Kidambi Srikanth is the first Indian man to have won silver medal at the World Championships. The great Prakash Padukone won bronze medal in 1983 and HS Prannoy clinched the same in 2019. Lakshya Sen is the latest edition in the World Championships medal's tally list with bronze medal to his name.
This sums up India men's performance so far at the prestigious tournament. Yet, Kidambi insists that he is "enjoying the good run", but has now shifted his focus to the upcoming games in the next calendar year with the ultimate goal of clinching a medal at the Paris Olympics 2024.
In an exclusive interview with Etv Bharat, Kidambi talks about facing Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals, his run in the World Championships tournament, motivation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ultimate goal -- Paris Olympics.
Here are excerpts of the interview:
Q. You are the first man from India to clinch silver at the World Championships. Has the feeling sunk in yet?
A. Honestly, I am not thinking anything at the moment. Trying to just enjoy the good run I had at the World Championships.
Q. What was it like facing your compatriot Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals? Did you have any conversation with him after the match?
A. It's always tough when you are playing fellow countrymen. See, it's a tournament and we both played to win the match. I am just happy that I was able to win that match. We did talk after the match in general but nothing related to our contest or the tournament.
Q. Any regrets on losing out in the finals against Loh Kean Yew?
A. No regrets. I am happy with the way I played in the finals. But I feel I could have done a little better. That's how it is, you have to learn from your mistakes and try and get better.
Q. You have played multiple tournaments before this - Sudirman Cup, Thomas and Uber Cup, etc. When did you realise you were getting better?
A. I could see the progress with every tournament. When I was playing German Open and French Open, I could see the difference in my game with every tournament. In Indonesia, I felt it too. Going into the World Championships, I didn't think that I have to win a medal, although I always wanted to, but I focussed on playing well. I knew that if I play well, I will win a medal. But I didn't really set a target to myself.
Q. Is this better than your achievements in 2017?
A. Definitely.
Q. Pandemic happened and plenty of matches were cancelled and you couldn't make the cut to Tokyo Olympics. How disappointed were you?
A. Frankly, I was a little disappointed but there is nothing that I could do because 7-8 tournaments got cancelled during that time. I was ranked 14th in the world rankings and you have to be in the top 16th to qualify for the Olympics. But the BWF said there will be a different set of rankings and many tournaments were cancelled and I was left with no choice. Those were the things that were not in my control. I was a bit disappointed as the things didn't go the way I would have liked it to but you have to move on and can't really hang on to it.
Q. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted after your win. How much does it boost your morale?
A. It was a happy moment. I was really happy to see them tweet for me. It also motivates me to do well. I am really happy that they are following my badminton.
Q. What now from here?
A. There is India Open in January. At the moment, I am primarily focussing on playing well in that tournament.
Q. Tell us about your ultimate goal?
A. The ultimate goal is to win medal at the Olympics in 2024. That will be there. But I don't want to only focus on that and forget everything else. At the moment, there will be a short-term goal and the ultimate, long-term goal is going to be 2024.
Ayushmaan Pandey
