What Anup Sridhar achieved at the World Badminton Championship in Kuala Lumpur was nothing short of fantastic. It looks like he has made a transition, from being a good player who created a flutter or two at open international events to becoming someone who can give the top players a run for their money. Sridhar is really getting there.
After winning the first round against Austrian Juergen Koch, he went on to tame Indonesia’s World No 10 and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat in the second round. Recovering from that tough encounter and then beating World No 16 and local player Muhammad Hafiz Hashim in the pre-quarterfinals was proof that Sridhar is made of stern stuff.
The most interesting aspect of Sridhar’s win is that he has proved that he is out of the cocoon. His confidence levels were and will be high. He is technically sound. He is able to read the opponent and think for himself on the court. These are traits which Sridhar has cultivated and the results are there for all to see.  “In the last World Championship, I was disappointed with the way I performed,” Sridhar said. “I was determined to do better in the event this time.
Confident
“After beating Koch in the first round, I was confident of my chances of beating Taufik. I had been thinking about how to do this. I had had discussions with Gopichand about this. After I beat Taufik, I was really confident. Before I played Hafiz Hashim, I felt I had a 60-40 chance of beating him. After beating Hafiz, I was all pumped up and thought I had a 50-50 chance with Lin Dan,” Sridhar said.
“But with Lin, I could not keep pace in the second game. I was not able to recover quick enough to play against him. The fact is also that he is one of the best players.”
Accolades poured in for Sridhar from Australian and Danish coaches. But the trainee of Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy is not the one to get carried away by success. Sridhar’s policy is simple. Once a job is done, concentrate on the next. “I just used to head back to the room after matches because I had to be focussed,” Sridhar stated.
Could this good show in Kuala Lumpur be a turning point in his badminton career? “I can’t really say that this will be the turning point in my career,” Sridhar felt. “I have had several good wins in my career. I would say the wins in the German Open earlier this year were good. I got a confidence boost after beating players like Germany’s Bjoern Joppien and Korea’s Park Sung-hwan there. I was feeling bad after losing in the senior Nationals and these wins gave me a boost.”
European circuit
Now that Sridhar knows what he is capable of, it is time to recover and get cracking again. He will be active on the European circuit and pit his skills with the best in the Dutch, Danish and French Open, all of which are Super Series events. But before that, Anup will be playing in front of his home crowd in the Indian Open at Hyderabad early next month. “I understand some top players are coming. It will be a good event to play in,” Sridhar said.
To do well, Sridhar needs to get back and do some planning. “There are so many things which need to be looked into. Things like how to recover after a hard day, how to play better at the net and many more things need to be worked out. I am not getting complacent about this. I just have to keep working hard,” Sridhar remarked.
“I need to discuss with my coaches and people at the academy about the next course of action. I may even train in Europe for a couple of weeks before playing in the circuit.”
Even after a good run at a major event, Sridhar does not let success bog him down. The young man’s policy is simple. He believes in improving all the time. And he is one who will remain committed.