Pullela Gopichand, chief national coach, was pleasantly surprised by his protégé Kidambi Srikanth’s brilliant performance at the BWF World Badminton Championships which concluded in Huelva, Spain, on Sunday.

Srikanth became the first Indian shuttler to win a silver medal at the World Championships, losing to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 15-21, 20-22.

“In the build-up to the World Championships, Srikanth was doing well. He had a good French Open in October (Srikanth went down to Kento Momota after a valiant fight in the second round) and then made it to the semi-finals of the Hylo Open and Indonesia Masters. Those performances gave him the much-needed confidence. But yes, I am pleasantly surprised by his achievement,” Gopichand told The Telegraph from Hyderabad on Monday night.

The 28-year-old from Guntur was a doubles player when he was training at Gopichand’s academy. He switched over to singles on his coach’s advice.

After the high of 2017 when Srikanth won four titles and briefly was world No. 1 in April next year, Srikanth’s knee injury pegged him back. The second wave of Covid-19 earlier this year saw three qualification tournaments getting cancelled which dealt a killer blow to Srikanth’s Tokyo Olympic Games dream.

“The last two years were not kind to anyone but Srikanth’s case was different. Not only was he dealing with injuries and niggles, the pressure of catching up in rankings took an enormous toll on him. He pushed the bar too high but unfortunately, results did not come. Now that he can flaunt a world silver medal, Srikanth has a lot to look forward to,” the 2001 All England badminton champion said.

“Next year has a packed schedule. The Commonwealth Games, the World Championships and the Asian Games. Then from March 2023 after the All England Championships, the Olympic Games qualifications begin. It will be a very hectic and testing time for Srikanth,” Gopi said.

Srikanth had won the gold medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The Indonesians skipped the world meet due to rising cases of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron across Europe and Momota pulled out due to injury. “Also two Chinese players — Shi Yu Qi and Chen Long — withdrew. They are expected to participate next year. So nothing will be on a platter for Srikanth. He will have to keep on working hard,” Gopichand said.

Gopichand was also excited by bronze medal winner 20-year-old Lakshya Sen’s show in Huelva.

“He pulled out some wins en route to the semi-finals. Lakshya is a very talented player and a good prospect. He is young and will serve Indian badminton for long.”