Sikki Reddy who recently participated in her first ever Commonwealth Games and won two medals for India. She is of the opinion that if India wants to win medals in Badminton at the Asian Games, then we need to be the Giant Killers. The world badminton has grown to another level, and even though we have been performing at the international stage, we are far behind in the game. The need of the hour is to level up the game because the opposition we will face at the Asiads is none less than team of giants.
Sikki Reddy on Asian Games Competition
The female doubles specialist shuttler of India, N Sikki Reddy believes that the Jakarka 2018 Asian Games will see a much tougher competition than the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, Autralia. To bring her near medals bracket at the grand event, also known as the mini-olympics, it would definitely need a couple of upsets .
“The competition in Asian Games will be tougher. Japan and China are very strong. The remaining other countries, if we can play at 110 percent, we can surprise them and put them under pressure,” Sikki told news agency PTI.
The Asian Games will be held from August 18 to September 2 in Indonesia.
Sikki Reddy on CWG Triumph
The dynamic girl, who is just 24 ,along with Ashwini Ponnappa, won a mixed team gold and a bronze in women’s doubles at the Gold Coast CWG and her performance fetched her a recommendation for the prestigious Arjuna Award.
“I think I deserve the award and I really hope I get it this time. I was recommended last year also but no one in badminton was awarded, so I am hoping I get it this time,” she said.
It was the first time she was appearing in the coveted games. She played in two events, women’s doubles with Ashwini and mixed doubles with Pranaav Jerry Chopra.
“It was my first commonwealth Games, so it was special. CWG has a different feeling, there is pressure as it comes in four years and winning a historic team gold and a bronze in doubles really made me feel pride,” she said.
“We had to make sure we were alright as we were playing everyday, so the support staff did a great job in our recovery, we had to take massage and ice bath and all.”
The Journey of Sikki Reddy
Her journey to glory has not been an easy one as four knee surgeries had almost ended her career before it could properly take off. She had to give up singles but a never-say-die attitude saw her pick up doubles and represent India at the highest level.
“I feel sad that I had to give up singles because at that time I was on top of my game. I know injuries are part of a sports person’s life but unfortunately I had four surgeries in the same knee. I was told to stop as otherwise I would have arthritis in future. I loved playing badminton and so I shifted to doubles,” she said.
“It was a big step. I hardly started playing doubles in the last four years and I didn’t have partners of my age group. Everyone think it is easy playing doubles but it is tougher, it is way more faster and agility wise also it is tough. If you start at 14-15 years then it is different but I started playing at 19-20. So it was very tough to overcome all that.”
Sikki Reddy on Upcoming events
Sikki and Ashwini are now ranked 25th, while Sikki and Pranaav are currently World No. 24th.
When asked if they are after any specific rankings ,
Sikki said: “Ranking goes up and down according to performance. We are consistently inside the top 20 but we have to consistently win and make life difficult for our opponents.”
Sikki missed the Uber Cup after being down with typhoid. However, she recovered in quick time and has already started training again.
Asked about Uber Cup, Sikki said: “We have won bronze in two editions but we would be the underdogs in the tournament.
