Srikanth Kidambi said on Sunday that for someone who had been quite used to finishing on podiums earlier in his career, it felt special to finally end a long wait as he capped a remarkable campaign with a runner-up finish at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament on Sunday.
Srikanth went down in straight games to China’s world No. 4 Li Shi Feng in the men’s singles final and admitted it wasn’t the level he wanted to be at for the title clash. The 32-year-old, who charted a long road back from injuries and missed opportunities, made his first BWF World Tour final in six years, starting from the qualifiers and riding a resurgent wave all the way to the title clash. However, the former world No. 1 was erratic and struggled to break through the second-seeded Li’s solid defence and was unable to convert openings, eventually losing in 11-21 9-21 in 36 minutes.
Here’s what Srikanth had to tell BWF media after finishing a fine week and returning to the podium as the runner-up:
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What is your headline from this week?
Pretty good week. It’s my third tournament also (in this swing). Played decently well in the first two as well but couldn’t really win those matches. But pretty happy with the way how it went so far (in Malaysia). Not exactly the way I wanted to be today but still I think he played really well.
You do realise you’re one of the more romantic stories to have come out of this. People are very happy to see you back, including umpires. Where have you been and what’s this return about?
I know, my chair umpire was also asking where have you been! I didn’t know people really missed me. But yeah, very happy to be back again. And obviously, I fell during the Singapore Open last year, and then I had to take a little off time. But then again, it got a little extended, more than I thought. And then I also got married last year in November. So that’s another break.
I started again from January. It’s always tough when you’re coming back from an injury and also from break. And then, when you haven’t really played too many matches it’s not easy to come directly and play the tournament. It took some time. I think the positive of everything is that I’m feeling better physically. So I just want to continue from here.
What’s this hunt about? What are you after?
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I’m just very happy to be back playing again. I just want to keep myself happy, that’s it.
And when you look at this silver, when you were standing on the podium, just general thoughts and emotions?
Yeah, obviously again, it’s been a while. There was a point in my career where I was pretty used to being standing there and then it’s been a while. So to be back again on the podium really feels special
Missed this high?
Yeah. So basically, again going back in 2001 when Gopi bhaiya had won that All England title, I kind of started imagining myself playing on the centre court with only lights projecting on the centre court. I’ve always dreamt of it. And it’s always good to be playing such matches and again, unless you reach finals, it doesn’t really happen. So I’m very happy to be again playing like that.
