Win or lose, there’ll be no knee-jerk reaction

Injuries and lay-offs can plant seeds of doubt in the minds of athletes. ‘Will I be able to step on a field again?’ ‘Will I be as good as I was before?’ And above all: ‘Will I hurt myself again?’
A troublesome right knee has been the bugbear for the talented Aditi Mutatkar. She first hurt it in 2003, while playing a junior tournament against Saina Nehwal in Chennai. Over the years, she has gone under the knife, undergone rehabilitation, recovered, and competed. But the right knee has become her Achilles heel.

During a period during which she was injury free, Mutatkar reached the final of the Bitburger Open in Germany in October last year.

However, her knee felt wobbly during the course of the Malaysia and Korea Super Series early this year. She had to undergo arthroscopy.
She has been blowing hot and cold since then. The Tata Open will be where she attempts to banish apprehension and self doubt, which have been fuelled from her tryst with injury. She wants to use the Category A tournament to regain confidence ahead of the World Championship in Hyderabad next month.

The opponent across the net won’t be the only thing playing on Mutatkar’s mind. “Playing at the Tata Open will be a physical as well as mental challenge for me. If I can go all the way then it’ll be a great confidence booster for me. I had to concede the last competitive game I played so this will be a very important tournament for me. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I want to go out and enjoy myself and play as well as I can,” Mutatkar said.

The World No.27 had to retire from her first round game against Fu Mingtian in the first round of the Malaysian Gold Grand Prix.

Mutatkar remains positive. “While the injuries have affected my game they have also made me stronger. I know how crushing it can be when you can’t play, so I’m going to cherish each of my wins. I have learnt to be patient. In spite of injuries, I’m in the top-30. If I am fully fit and I overcome the fear of recurring injury then I can peak. I know I have the potential to break into the top-20,” Mutatkar, a ward of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, said. kolhatkar wins a thriller Maharashtra’s Nikhil Kolhatkar beat Abhishek Phukan of Assam 21-16 19-21 21-18 in the longest match of the post-evening session on the first day of the qualifying round for the 2nd edition of the Tata Open on Wednesday. 

Qualifying results: Prakash Jolly bt Sanjay Purohit 21-11 21-6, Ravindra Singh bt Vipin 21-14 21-8, Abhimanyu Singh bt Anuj Gupta 21-9 21-14, Manjush Mohan KK bt Ajay Dayal 21-14 21-18, Kamaldeep Singh bt Dhiraj Kumar Gaurav 21-14 21-15, Tanishaq K bt Sachin Kshatriya 21-12 21-18, Sarang Lakhani lost to Tanvir Gill 13-21 21-17 21-17, Sonic Prabhudesai bt Ravi Kumar 21-15 21-17, Joseph Sumi bt Sonu Kumar Sah 21-14 21-15, Sasishar CM bt Manish Gupta 21-15 21-17, Vijay Kumar bt Prabhat Sirsat 21-9 21-17, Krishna T bt Sidharth Saboo 21-12 21-10, Vinayak NN bt D Sharma 21-15 21-14, Manikandan MR bt Karthikey K 21-17 21-15, Vijay Reddy lost to Venkat Gaurav 19-21 21-11 21-17, S Kumar TG bt Gautam Chawla 21-12 21-11, Pratik Patel bt Amit Kshatriya 21-12 21-16.