Kolkata: He has become an icon for Indian badminton now. After pocketing the Indonesia Super Series and Australian Open Super Series in successive weeks, he has established himself as a big star in the international sporting arena and , much like a true champion, Kidambi Srikanth says that the best of him is yet to come.
In an interview, he said, “I am really playing well. I am very confident and this is the best I ever played so far but the best is yet to come.”
In the recently concluded Australian Open Super Series, Srikanth displayed some exemplary skills as he overcame Olympic champion Chen Long in the final, after losing to him on five earlier occasions. Long had won consecutive world championships in 2014 and 2015.
“I beat him for the first time. I was very happy as I did it in a final of a Superseries,” he said as quoted by IANS.
The 24-year old from Guntur is now the only Indian, to have won the Superseries Premier, Superseries and Grand Prix Gold titles.
He has been in terrific form since losing out in the final of the Singapore Open in April, where his compatriot Sai Praneeth got the better of him.
With his victory in the Australian Open which is his fourth Super Series title, he not only became the sixth badminton player to reach to three consecutive Super Series finals but also the first Indian to achieve this unique feat.
He registered straight victories over Chen (22-20, 21-20) in the Australian Open final and courtesy that win, he also broke into the top ten of the BWF rankings for the first time in 10 months.
Such success is bound to attract a lot of youth, many of whom are actually inspired by him. When said that he has become a role model for many youngsters much like his coach Pulella Gopichand and the legendary Prakash Padukone, a humble Srikanth said that he has still a lot left to achieve and he cannot be compared with the either of them.
He said, “I don’t think I can compare myself with Prakash Sir or Gopichand Sir. I need to achieve a lot more to compare myself with them. Gopi Sir is my inspiration and it is because of him I took the sport.”