Kashyap seeks elusive national title

This could,in fact,be his best chance yet of winning the elusive crown. Chetan Anand,30 and Anup Sridhar,27 who have had a stranglehold on the singles title since 2003,come battling poor form and injury Chetan has slipped to 36 while Sridhar is currently out of the top 100. A win would also signal the passing of the flame to the next generation of Indian shuttlers.

For Kashyap,the Nationals are only the start of what he believes will be an important year. Whatever gains I have made in the past year,I will have to further consolidate and improve on them. I will be playing tournaments in Malaysia and Korea and then the Grand Prix in Delhi in April. By then,I want to break into top 15. That will give me a good seeding at the World Championships in August, Kashyap says,outlining his plans for the future.

His ultimate aim,though,remains the Olympics. I am reasonably sure that I will be able to qualify for London at the World Championships. But I dont want to go there to just make up the numbers; I want to be confident of returning with a medal, he signs off.