Want to be on top of my game in the Worlds, says Kashyap

London Olympic Games quarter-finalist Parupalli Kashyap wants to train hard for seven weeks and be at the peak of his game and fitness ahead of the August 10-16 World Badminton Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Kashyap shocked world no. 1 Chen Long of China in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open in Jakarta after fighting back from a game down, before losing in three games in the semis to Japan's Kento Momota which he feels was, partly, because of lack of fitness.

"It (win over Chen) gave me a lot of confidence. I know all the top ten players have different styles of play. In particular situations you should know how to pull ahead and finish the match which I felt I was lacking, especially against Kento Momota of Japan in the semi-finals.
 

"I thought I had a good enough lead at 10-6 to finish it off in the second game itself. I just felt I did not put enough pressure on him at that time.

"In those kinds of areas a little bit more fitness is required. My fitness was not good enough to pull away from him. There's just a percentage difference between all players in top ten. If you drop that percentage you are equal to even the 30th ranked player," said the 28-year-old from Hyderabad here today.

"You need to maintain yourself at a very high level and that's what I would be looking forward to in these seven weeks before the World Championships. I will be consistent in training every day as I need to be at the top-most level of my game. Training is very important for me."

Kashyap said the win over Chen was a huge confidence boost for him, especially after a big loss to the Chinese star in Malaysia.

"For a couple of months I rated (Chen) even ahead of Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) and (Olympic champion) Lin Dan because his performance was very good. The previous time I played him in Malaysia, I had lost badly and going into the match I wanted to do well," said the shuttler on the sidelines of an event organised by his supporter - Olympic Gold Quest - a non-profit organisation that supports Indian athletes.