Mithun fighting demons in his mind to chart his way to the top

Mithun Manjunath, an overthinker, remains an anxious man desperate to finish points. The shuttler is fighting hard to conquer these demons in his mind in order to unleash his full potential. 

“Yes, I know these are the hurdles that are proving to be the difference between winning and losing in the close matches,” says the 25-year-old player from Karnataka. “I have had long conversations with my coaches and we are confident of overcoming such mental blocks in due course of time,” he states, perhaps assuring himself once again.

The pattern of taking a big lead only to let the opponent close in the gap or squander it all together at the dying moments of a game have haunted the Bengaluru boy throughout the season. 

In the Japan Open two weeks ago, Mithun took the first game 21-13 and was leading 18-11 against World No. 19 Weng Hong Yang of China in the second. With a mere three points away from sealing the first round match, the Indian let the pressure get the better of him. Yang went on to claw his way back to claim the second 24-22 before winning the third 21-18. 

At the opening round of the Australian Open the following week, Mithun found himself caught in a similar situation against the 2021 World Champion and World No. 7 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore. Pocketing the first 21-19, Mithun led 19-9 before losing the next 10 rallies in a row for Yew to equalise 19-19. 

“I told myself not to repeat the mistake I had made the previous week and held my nerves to eventually get through 21-19. I had lost in three games to Yew in March at the German Open. He is too fast and I couldn’t match his speed so I slowed down pace this time by employing more drop shots and half smashes,” recollects Mithun who trains under Sagar Chopda at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence. 

“It is my first year on the big (World 500 and above) tour and facing the top-20/ 30 ranked players regularly is a daunting task. I’m learning and will figure out a way to deal with such situations better,” he offers. 

Currently ranked 43 in the world, Mithun considers 2022 as his breakthrough year when he competed in the international challenge, world tour 100/ 300 events to go from 120 at the beginning of the year to 33 at the end of last year. 

The Rajajinagar resident, who picked up a racket aged six after watching his parents play badminton as an evening pastime on the street in front of their house, was crowned the national men’s singles champion this year. Arvind Bhat was the last Karnataka player to lift the national title in 2010. 

Mithun, on Saturday, became the top buy at the Grand Prix badminton League (GPBL) picked by Chennai Superstarz for Rs 14.5 lakh. 

Named in the Indian badminton squad for the Asian Games with Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy among other more accomplished players, Mithun, known for his deceptive play, says he is determined to prove that he is not just a flash in the pan.