Conditions will favour my aggressive game: Kashyap

The most experienced player in the Indian team, Parupalli Kashyap today said his team will be second to none at the Li Ning Thomas Cup and home conditions will help him and compatriot K Srikanth turn up the aggression.
India are drawn in a group which also comprises Malaysia, Korea and Germany and Kashyap said the hosts are capable of qualifying for the knockout stage of the event, starting May 18, riding on the back of singles performance.
"It is a tough draw, all teams are tough. Germany has two singles player in Marc Zwiebler and Dieter Domke, who are good. Mark has been consistent over the years to be inside the top 20. He has played here during IBL and Domke is also a good player. Doubles is obviously good," Kashyap told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of a training session at the Siri Fort Complex.

"Even Korea have good singles and doubles player. Malaysia obviously have Lee Chong Wei and other two players are also decent. So it is evenly matched in singles. So we have an outside chance of reaching the quarterfinals.
"Since we bank on our singles, we will have to win all the singles. If we can pull out a doubles from somewhere it will be a bonus for us. But we will surely look at all the singles against Germany and Korea. I think we are capable of beating them," he added.
India will be hosting the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals for the first time and Kashyap is banking on home conditions to do well in the tournament.

"Playing at home really gives me a push. Training for a couple of weeks ahead of the tournament really helps. Even homely Indian food, the climate, all these factors matters. Also at home, with the crowd cheering for you and the whole team also rooting for you to win your match for the team to qualify is a different feeling," he said.

"At Siri Fort, these courts are different, so I have been trying to focus on my attacking and aggressive game. I play good in these conditions, it was more condition specific training. I focused on getting back to good fitness.

"I am happy that these conditions are going to help both me and Srikanth. We are aggressive players, we like top smash more and right now my shoulder is also in right condition and so I can smash," he added.
Though Kashyap is the senior most player, Srikanth will play the first singles being the top ranked shuttler in world and Kashyap said it will be favourable for the team.