Kidambi Srikanth counts on performance over ranking

Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth on Saturday said he was not worried about rankings and that his main priority was to perform well in upcoming badminton tournaments.

Speaking to ANI after being felicitated by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) here, Srikanth said, "I am not thinking about the rankings. Right now, it is really important for me to win medals in the big events. It is really important for me to perform well and be consistent."

His coach and former badminton player Pullela Gopichand earlier said that rankings was not the priority right now for players and stressed on consistent performance in the upcoming major tournaments.

"Ranking is about luck and it's not a priority, but I think performance in the big tournaments is what we are looking for," Gopichand told ANI.

Srikanth underscored that he wanted to remain fit ahead of 2018 Badminton World Championships and 2018 Asian Games scheduled to be held in the next two to three months.

"Right now, there are four to five tournaments to play. I need to plan them in such a way that I can keep myself fit for the upcoming Asian Games and World Championships", he added.

Owing to his good performance at the recently concluded 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, Srikanth dethroned Denmark's Viktor Axelsen to achieve the numero-uno spot in the BWF World Rankings last month.

He is currently ranked third position in the latest BWF Working Rankings on Thursday.

Last week, the 25-year-old from Guntur lost to Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei in the quarter-finals of the Badminton Asia Championships in China's Wuhan.

He also conceded defeat against Wei in the finals of the men's singles event at the CWG, where he settled for silver.