My focus is to regain fitness ahead of Oly qualification: Pranaav

Left to deal with fitness issues for most part of last season, India's doubles specialist Pranaav Jerry Chopra is aiming to return to his best form ahead of the Olympic qualification events.

The 26-year-old had to endure a tough phase last season as he spent most of his time nursing a recurring shoulder injury before a bout of dengue completely derailed his plans.

The Punjab-born shuttler received a huge boost when he, along with Chirag Shetty, clinched the men's doubles title at the Senior National Championship in Guwahati last week.

"The senior title meant a lot after going through a lot, both mentally and physically," Pranaav, who forms India's best mixed doubles pair with N Sikki Reddy, told PTI.

"My focus is to regain full fitness before the Olympic qualification starts by April end," added the Indian, who was part of the gold-winning mixed team at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Pranaav suffered a shoulder injury in May last and though he recovered to play a few tournaments, it relapsed in September but he couldn't skip tournaments as he had already sent the entries.

"I had a shoulder issue in May, which needed two weeks of rest but in September it happened again during the Hyderabad Open. This time it had affected the bone but I had to play through pain as we had already sent the entries for Japan and China," he said.

"My doctor said it will take one month of rest and after that I can do my physiotherapy but in the last week of my recovery I was down with dengue and I was hospitalised in Ludiana for a week and after coming back, it took three months to start training.

"I had pain in joints and other muscles, specially lower body but I played two tournaments in January as I wanted to continue playing. Now I am feeling much better."
"My focus was to keep playing before the qualification starts by April end, and regain full fitness by then. So that we can go full on when the qualification starts."