Will Bhat have the last word?

If you see Aravind Bhat squinting his eyes intently and viciously muttering under his breath during his opener against...

If you see Aravind Bhat squinting his eyes intently and viciously muttering under his breath during his opener against Korean favourite Park Sung Hwan, don8217;t mistake it for bad manners. Far from being a brat, Bhat would be simply following the prescription of Ashlesh Rao, a Bangalore-based psychologist who has urged him to take up visualisation techniques and word-cues to finish matches.

Failing to deliver the knock-out punch has been the shuttler8217;s bane for some time now, with loss of focus from winning positions becoming a nagging problem. And Rao8217;s neuro-linguistic programme NLP is designed to deal with this affliction. 8220;It8217;s silly, but it has happened too often this year to ignore. I get into comfortable positions 8212; leading 15-6 or 7, and then lose it from there,8221; says the 43-ranked shuttler, now India8217;s lead challenger after Anup Sridhar8217;s withdrawal.

8220;I get to a point where I think I have him, and then I just fritter it away. People say my body language drops. NLP helps you programme the head with language cues. Repetition of words plays a trigger to previously won points.

8220;I should8217;ve gone to Ashlesh earlier, but I8217;m sure it8217;ll be of some help even now,8221; he says ahead of a tough match-up against the fourth seed. Bhat doesn8217;t mind that the odds are stacked against him. 8220;I play better against the tough guys. I fancy my chances 8212; I8217;ll take this any day,8221; he adds.

Though 2008 has been plagued by losses, Bhat believes he heads into the tournament playing as well as ever. 8220;After my comeback last June 8212; when I started again as an unranked player 8212; I have climbed up to the 40s, with a few good wins and four international series titles in 2007-end. This year, there are no titles to show, but I8217;m playing well,8221; he says.

He has an outside chance of making it to the Olympics 8212; if he can displace Anup Sridhar as India8217;s No 1 8212; but Bhat admits it will be difficult. 8220;The qualification race started last May when I was still recovering from the ankle injury 8212; when I was thinking I8217;d never return to the game. I8217;d almost given up, but then things suddenly fell into place. It8217;ll be a dream come true if I can make it to Beijing, but I won8217;t put myself under undue pressure,8221; he says.

The player who trains under Prakash Padukone believes he plays his best when not gunning for the end-result 8212; especially against the top names. 8220;I want to get a few wins, and I think this venue should change my luck,8221; he says. He won8217;t tell, but Bhat might just have figured out the trigger-words to rev him up against the much higher-ranked opponents.