After beating South Korea’s Kwang Hee Heo in the semi-final of the US Open, India’s Parupalli Kashyap is eyeing his first title since the 2015 India Open Grand Prix Gold. However, the journey has not been an easy one for Kashyap who had a nasty injury in January.
The 30-year-old had doubts if he would be able to play again after dislocating his right shoulder at the Premier Badminton League.
Ever since sustaining a calf muscle injury in October 2015, life has never been the same for the Hyderabadi shuttler as he struggled to regain fitness.
He recovered from a torn calf muscle, only to suffer a knee injury at the German Open, which ended his Olympic dream. Kashyap shifted to Bangalore so that he could recuperate from the knee injury. Once he recovered, he reached the semi-finals in South Korea.
“It was the most difficult phase of my life. But even after missing the Olympics due to the knee injury, I was still motivated. I told myself okay, Olympics is gone, I can’t help it,” said Kashyap.
“So, let me recover and 2017 will be the year for me and I got the confidence also after reaching the semifinals at Korea. But after dislocating my shoulder at PBL, I was completely messed up,” he added.
He dislocated the shoulder while playing a match against Prannoy. “It was my right hand and again I had a three months break. There was a long period of bed rest and then there was the rehab. During this time, I lost it, I didn’t know how I will ever play if I can’t smash. But I had good friends and support of the doctor and physio. I completely followed what they told me to do. I took one day at a time and slowly I started getting my confidence back,” said Kashyap.
After recovering again, Kashyap played at the China Open but he ended up pulling his hamstring.
“It was difficult for me to do the training program that the new coach had decided for rest of the players. I tried to do that and I pulled my hamstring just 10 days before the Thailand Open,” he said.
Kashyap played at Thailand before entering a training program, which was specifically designed by chief coach Pullela Gopichand.
“It was only during the two weeks before the Australian Open that Gopi sir tweaked my training program here and there because he knew I am an experienced player and the program worked for me,” said Kashyap.
Kashyap will now be in another race of earning a place in the national team to defend his title at the Commonwealth Games next year. “It is a good result after what seems like ages. But I know I am still in the process of getting back to my best,” he said.