One of India’s leading shuttlers, B. Sai Praneeth, believes that his performances in the just-concluded PBL for the victorious Bengaluru Raptors — winning six of the eight matches he played — should give him the confidence he badly needs as he gears up for the Olympic qualifying cycle later this year.
The 26-year-old Praneeth, whose ability to beat the best and also lose to lesser-known players at the highest level is pretty well-known, says that even he didn’t expect to play as well as he did in the PBL.
“The fact that I won more matches in this edition for my team than playing for the victorious Hyderabad Hunters last season is of great satisfaction. And, most of them were crunch games,” he said.
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“I was my old self again with the way I played in the PBL. The problem with me is not about my game but about fitness. Once, I get the confidence that I can last the full distance, the strokes start flowing,” says the World No. 22.
“I don’t think there is any serious need to change my game at this stage. It all depends on how well I focus on my fitness in this big year. Yes, playing in too many tournaments with little time for recovery and practice did affect my performances in terms of winning titles last year,” he said. He reached the last year’s World championship quarterfinal in China.
“There will be pressure because of the mad rush as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifying events start from May and end in April next year. But, again, one has to be fit and raring to go,” Praneeth said.
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“Yes, playing with someone like World No.8 Srikanth (Kidambi) for Bengaluru was itself a huge experience. We both shared a lot of things. He knows the in and out of most of the players’ games and that helped me a lot,” he said.
“Definitely, after the 2017 Singapore Open win against Srikanth in the final, things would have been different if only I had won a couple of more big events. Sometimes things don’t fall in place as you like to be. So, eagerly waiting for a much better 2019,” Praneeth signed off getting ready for the next week’s Indonesian Open after skipping the Malaysian Open starting Tuesday.