His career derailed by a series of injuries, promising Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma is hoping to lay his hands on the men's singles title at the 80th Senior National championship once again to boost his confidence even as he tries to make his way back at the international circuit.
"Senior Nationals is extremely important for me because where I'm now currently, I haven't played much and there are not much events which I can play. I can't get entry into big events so I'm looking to get some good result at the Nationals," said Sourabh, who reached the pre-quarterfinals of the ongoing Senior Nationals in Chandigarh.
Asked about his future events, he said: "I will have to play challengers and then once I get into top 70, I will start playing Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold events and some Super Series tournaments. I was lucky to get an entry in India Open. Next I am playing Thailand and Vietnam challengers."
A former National champion, Sourabh had reached two Grand Prix Gold finals at Syed Modi in 2011 and Malaysia Open in 2014 but injuries never allowed him to play for a longer tenure at the international circuit.
"Till 2014, it was still okay but after December I was injured. First I injured my elbow and then I had a knee injury. These two took away one year from my career," said Sourabh, who had a career-best ranking of World no 35.
"After I injured by elbow in March last year, I took 6-7 months to heal. I played Syed Modi in 2015 and then I could not play any event till August. I played an All India ranking after that and was runners up. But then I started having pain in my knee and I could not play for two months. I again played at TATA Open and I reached the finals.
"So it was a series of injuries which affected my
performance. I wanted to find out what is the problem and later I realised it was an issue with strength. So I worked on my strength," said Sourabh, who had won the 2013 TATA Open International challenge.
The 23-year-old from Dhar had his share of International Challenger title wins at the Austrian Open and Iran Fajr Open and even reached the finals of 2014 Malaysia GPG, before losing to Indonesia's Simon Santoso.
Back in the court after recovering from the injuries, Sourabh had qualified for the main draw at India Open after beating RMV Gurusaidutt and Japan's Kenechi Tago.
"The wins against Guru and Kenechi Tago were confidence booster because I have been out of the international circuit for long," said Sourabh, who had reached the quarterfinals at India Open beating Sony Kuncoro and Tago in 2011.
"I have nothing to lose now and so I want to play freely. I just want to play without thinking about wining or losing. Anyways, I don't have any ranking points to defend now. So the idea is to just give 100 per cent without worrying about the result," he said.
