Ace shuttler Anup Sridhar says his ankle injury would have healed faster had he given the Beijing Olympics a miss.
NEW DELHI: Ace shuttler Anup Sridhar says his ankle injury would have healed faster had he given the Beijing Olympics a miss, but insisted that he doesn't regret risking his career for playing in the world's biggest sporting extravaganza.
"I would've healed quicker if I'd given the Olympics a miss, specially since I then wouldn't have taken a cortisone shot which delays complete recovery," Anup, who beat Marco Vasconcelos of Portugal in the first round before going down to Shoji Sato of Japan in the second round at the Beijing Games.
"But I had a shot at the biggest competition in the world and if I had to do things over I would still go ahead with the cortisone shot and participate in the Olympics games," he added.
Though his dream of representing India at the Olympics materialised, what followed was a prolonged period of frustration as he was forced to stay away from the court for more than three months, owing to his injury.
"It has been a very tough time in my life. My whole life revolves around badminton and if I'm not even sure of getting back to full fitness, that's a very hard thing to deal with.
"I haven't been out of the court for even two weeks at a stretch in the last three years or so and this has been the hardest thing for me," Anup said.
"Initially after getting back from Beijing, I tried to get fit a bit too quickly, and paid the price for it. I even tried taking rest for a few weeks but that didn't help either. I've been forced to figure things out for myself like who's the right doctor to consult, what kind of treatment routine to follow etc. So that has made it quite hard," he said.
"I think I have been forgotten to a large extent, but more than that the thing bothers me is that I have not been able to reach my goals for the year.
"But I guess, at the end of it all, I am stronger in my mind than I was before and I know that this will show on the court when I get back to playing," Anup added.
Although yet to regain full fitness, Anup is gearing up for the 2009 season and hopes to play in the forthcoming super series in January.
"At the moment, the strength and stability of my ankle are back to normal, its the mobility of the ankle that still needs a lot of improvement. I am planning to play in the two super series (i.e. the Malaysian and Korean super series in January)," Anup said.
"I know it will not be too easy to get back to my original level, but its hard to say when that will happen as I have never been injured before. After the two tournaments in January, I'll decide further," he added.
"Initially I will go easy on myself as far as results go, maybe for the first few tournaments that I play. But I have always set myself high standards and I have some big things I want to achieve next year," he said.
His injury lay-off has also taken a toll on his World ranking as the Olympian shuttler has slipped from world number 14 to 45, according to the latest BWF ranking. However, Anup remains unperturbed.
"I don't like to look at the rankings anymore and see how far I've dropped, but I know that its only a matter of time before I'm back higher than ever. I need maybe six months, and I will be in the top 20," he said.
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