Newly-crowned Denmark Open champion Kidambi Srikanth plans to cut down on the number of tournaments he competes in to be in best shape for the marquee events lined up next year such as the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, reported PTI.
“I really want to play a fixed number of tournaments and don’t want to play all the tournaments and push myself for the ranking,” said world No 8 Srikanth, who outclassed 37-year-old Lee Hyun II in a lop-sided final to clinch the Denmark Open title last night.
This was his third Superseries title of the year after Australia and Indonesia. The 24-year-old also finished runner-up in the Singapore Open Superseries. Srikanth missed the Malaysia Superseries this year, but played the German Open Grand Prix Gold.
“I will play around 10 tournaments [next year] and then play the Commonwealth and the Asian Games, the World Championship and then there is Syed Modi which is compulsory, and PBL (Premier Badminton League), so it would make it 15-17 tournaments anyway,” he was quoted as saying.
Srikanth capped an impressive week in Denmark with a 21-10, 21-5 win over Lee in the finals. In the quarter-finals, he beat world champion Viktor Axelsen after three failed previous attempts.
“I am happy with the way it went for me, it was fantastic,” he said. “I beat some tough players this week. I can’t even say it was a dream come true because I never dreamt of winning three titles this year. I really want to continue playing well.”
He added, “I just wanted to continue what I did this week and not do anything fancy. I feel I have to be more consistent in the coming months.”
With three more Superseries tournaments lined up this year starting with the French Open this week, Srikanth said he would look to finish the year on a high. “It was a good year for me. After coming back from injury, I played really well. There are more Superseries tournaments to go and I really want to finish well.”
Asked about the Dubai Superseries Final in December, Srikanth said it was an important event but he would think about it think about it only after the China and Hong Kong Superseries next month.
“I reached semis in 2014 and in 2015 [in Dubai and] I lost in the league stages but it doesn’t matter,” he said. “We, as players, have to forget what had happened and start afresh. So I don’t want to think about what happened in 2015.”
The 25-year-old from Guntur also revealed that he will be announcing a few deals in the coming months. “My management company is in talks with some major firms and may be after these two tournaments, I will announce some sponsorship deals.”
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