Sridhar targets Indian Open to regain confidence

Struggling with his form after a five-month injury lay off, ace shuttler Anup Sridhar is targetting the Indian Open Grand Prix to regain his confidence and has set his eyes on making at least the semi-finals of the tournament.
    
"I'm playing in an international tournament in India after quite a long time so I'm very excited. I'm in reasonably good shape as well.

"I think if I can win two-three good matches, that would be OK. As far as results go, I think semi-final and above would be good, and I think it's realistic as well," Sridhar
said ahead of the tournament that starts with qualifiers on Tuesday.

"I tend to look at a situation like this as being a huge opportunity to play myself back into form, get my confidence back and earn some ranking points in the process," he added.

Sridhar twisted his ankle in March last year but still played in the Beijing Olympics in August before being forced to take a break for five months.

Returning to the court, Sridhar played in the Malaysian Super Series, Korean Super Series, German Open, All England Super Series, the National championship and the Wilson Swiss Super series but he found the going tough in all the events.

However, the Bangalorean says he is determined to get his form and fitness back and is working hard with his pshyio Muthu Kumar.

"I am working with Muthu Kumar, a physio in Bangalore for about a week now and I am confident that together we will be able to get me back to full fitness," he said.

Once the highest-ranked Indian in the world, Sridhar is now languishing at number 48 but the Bangalore shuttler said he is eyeing the top 15 by the end of this year.

"I definitely aim to be back in the top spot by the end of the year. I will need to be around the top 15 to achieve that and I have planned my schedule to allow an extended
period of training to get my fitness to the right level," he said.