Australia Open show instils confidence in shuttler Rajawat

Priyanshu Rajawat returns to HS Prannoy during their semi-final of the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney last week. PIC/AFP

INDIA shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat, 21, climbed three places to achieve his career-best ranking of World No. 28 following his maiden semi-final finish in a Super 500 tournament - the Australian Open - in Sydney last week. But he is dejected over not being able to defeat HS Prannoy, his training partner at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA) in Hyderabad.

Rajawat went down 18-21, 12-21 in the semi-final at the Australian Open after his quarter-finals win (21-13, 21-8) over former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth. This season, Rajawat has managed to stretch World No. 2 Anthony Ginting, World No. 4 Kodai Naraoka and Lakshya Sen to three games.

Here's how. In the Round of 16 at the Indonesia Open, Rajawat managed a 22-20, 15-21, 15-21 scoreline against Ginting. At the same stage of the Korea Open, he came close to beating Naraoka before losing 14-21, 21-18, 17-21. In the round of 32 at the Japan Open, the young shuttler made compatriot Sen (World No. 11) work for each point before going down 15-21, 21-12, 22-24.

Talking about reaching his maiden Super 500 semi-finals (the Australian Open), Rajawat told www.mid-day.com, "Though it was my first Super 500 semis, I had more expectations from myself. So, in that way, I felt a little disappointed as I really wanted to play the final. Nonetheless, the one good thing that has happened after this tournament is I am feeling more confident."

The youngster, who has been a trainee of PGBA since he was eight, said he just wanted to enjoy his game during his quarter-final against Srikanth. "I admire Srikanth bhai's game a lot. While playing against him, I just wanted to enjoy the game and keep my cool. I wanted to do the same against Prannoy bhaiya [in semis]," said Rajawat, who started playing badminton in his hometown Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, after watching elder brother Kunal as a six-year-old.

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When asked what is next for him after stretching some big names in the sport this season, he said: "My next step is to focus more on my game and work on my weak points, overcome them. My short-term goal is still the same as it was at the start of the year - enter the Top 15 of world rankings." The shuttler's next challenges come in the form of the China Open (September 5-10) and Hong Kong Open (September 12-17).