Boria Majumdar
It was 4.45 am on September 9, 2017. Pullela Gopichand and I had agreed to drive to the airport together to board our respective flights. I was the primary beneficiary, for I knew I would have his undivided attention at that hour, and ask him how the SAI-Gopichand National Badminton Academy in Hyderabad was fast turning into a supply line of champions.
The conversation started with Kidambi Srikanth. “He has enormous talent,” Gopi had said. “The day he is at peace with his mind, you will see him win title after title,” the Dronacharya had asserted. His disciple finished that year with four Super Series titles.
I followed up this conversation with a visit to the academy in October. It’s perhaps the only Indian high performance factory which has produced champions with regularity. And there was Srikanth. Lean, reticent and somewhat aloof. Even when involved in a banter with PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Sai Praneeth, he was in a world of his own.
My mind went back to Rio and the quarterfinal he had played against Lin Dan. Srikanth had stretched the champion from China, and had his smash not hit the net at 17-18 in the decider, who knows what could have happened. “I still remember that shot and it only makes me stronger as a person,” lamented Srikanth. Sadly, counter factual history has no place in the real world. The reality is Srikanth lost.
In the last few years, that has been his story. The former world No. 1 has time and again let himself and his fans down. For whatever reason, he hasn’t made the most of his talent and just vanished from matches that he should have won. That’s why the Malaysia Masters comes as a breath of fresh air. Ranked No. 65 in the world and coming up through the qualifiers, reaching the final of a Super 500 event has been some effort. And you could see that in the way he celebrated. The scream and the pump of the fist — it was evident what this meant to him.
Was it the weight of expectations? Was it in the mind? “I am just trying to enjoy badminton. Playing badminton without thinking of the results,” the 32-year-old had said to me sometime back. Typical Srikanth, I must say.
Just to go back to a story, he and I had watched Sindhu’s Rio quarterfinal against Wang Yihan together. We celebrated her win and enjoyed her success. That’s what the academy does to all its wards. It teaches them to stand up for each other and back each other up in major tournaments.
In the final in Malaysia, it is Li Shifeng against him and needless to say, Srikanth starts as the underdog yet again. Not only is the Chinese ranked fourth in the world, he has had some very good results in the last year or so. But with Srikanth, you never know. And this is despite the fact that he hasn’t yet won anything recently. May be Srikanth is finally at peace with his mind. May be he is once again enjoying playing badminton.