Covid-19 has robbed us of the liberty to coach as per our plans: Srikanth

The COVID-19 pandemic has “robbed” athletes of the liberty to coach as per their comfort forward of the all-important Olympic Games, says India’s ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth.
Going by a number of COVID exams and dwelling in a bio-bubble have change into the brand new regular for worldwide athletes and Srikanth has skilled all of it in the previous couple of months.
“Things are not as smooth as they were before, this bio bubble and everything are little complicated to deal with and then with false positives happening, it becomes even more tricky,” Srikanth instructed PTI in an interview.
“You can’t complain if you get a positive result because you don’t know if it is actually a false positive, So things are very tough now.”
Srikanth, a former world primary, was left with a bloodied nostril after going by a number of COVID exams forward of the YONEX Thailand Open earlier this 12 months.
After that, he needed to withdraw from Toyota Thailand Open and keep confined to his lodge room in Bangkok for every week after his roommate and fellow shuttler B Sai Praneeth examined COVID-19 optimistic, which later turned out to be false.
“I feel we have lost the freedom to train according to our timings. It’s been robbed. In the pre-COVID days, I could go to the gym when I wanted but now I have to go when I am provided a time. You cannot prepare the way we did before,” he stated.
“I couldn’t play extra matches in Thailand. I needed to play World Tour finals straightaway with out apply. In All England, I couldn’t prepare as some gamers examined optimistic. So issues didn’t work my means.
“But you can’t think too much about these things because you can only do what you have in your hand. You just have to adjust and live with this for the next 5-6 months at least.”
He is hoping to safe an Olympic berth with good outings within the final three qualifiers.
One space the place the Indian feels the Badminton World Federation (BWF) can take a look is meals.
“Food is something which BWF should look into. I understand it is tough to give everyone what they want but they can take a little more care, may be a little bigger menu to select from,” he stated.
“The first 3-4 days in All England when we were not allowed to go out, there were not too many options, there was no rice options.”
The 28-year-old Indian is now solely focussed on his efficiency within the final three Olympic qualifiers, beginning with the India Open, which is scheduled to be held behind closed doorways within the nationwide capital from May 11 to 16.
“Initially there were many events now just three Olympic qualifiers and I just hope that these three tournaments happen. The lockdown helped me to work on myself and I am feeling much better now physically,” stated Srikanth, a quarterfinalist at 2016 Rio Games.
“I played three close games in the World Tour finals. I think probably one win against a top player will give me that confidence. so I have three more tournaments to prove myself.”
Srikanth is positioned twentieth within the Race to Tokyo rating and holds the 14th place in eorld rating.
A finalist on the 2019 version of India Open, Srikanth is “not sure about the rules about the rankings anymore.”
“For me, it is about doing well in the three events. If I play in the three events I will be in the Olympics. It is not a very big ask,” he stated.
“I probably have to play a semifinal or a couple of quarterfinals. I’m actually feeling very good about my physical condition at the moment, so it is about going there and giving my best.”
Srikanth had dominated the circuit in 2017, successful 4 titles along with his attacking recreation.
But it appears he has misplaced a few of his aggressive play of late.
“I was just injured and with that comes limitations but I am feeling much better now,” he signed off.