Indian men’s doubles player Chirag Shetty oozes confidence going into his maiden Olympics. Despite being clubbed with the world No.1 and 3 pairs in Group A, the 24-year-old Mumbaikar is confident that they can achieve good results if they put their best foot forward. While he is excited to play in his maiden Olympics, he hopes to make it a memorable one with good results. He shares more in an interview with Telangana Today.
On playing in maiden Olympics
I am really excited to play my first Olympics. Every athlete has this dream of playing in Olympics. I always wanted to be part of it. I am looking forward to it.
On being paired with top players
The draw is competitive with no.1 and 3 pair in our group. The English pair is also good. But I want to look at it in a positive manner and if we want to go deep into the tournament you have to beat top players. I want to give my best and see how it goes.
On preparations ahead of the Games
Our preparations are in full swing. We pushed ourselves a lot over the past few months keeping the Olympics in mind. We can’t wait to go to Olympics and have good time.
On new coach Mathias Boe
His style is quite different from what we were going through before. His approach is a lot more technical and a lot more thought process goes into his method. His approach had made a lot of difference in our game. We are working on our defence a lot as well. We are really looking forward to implement what we learnt here
On no crowd and life in bio-secure bubble
Yes, this time the Olympics are quite different with no crowd and life in a bio-bubble. It will be a whole lot of different. I think it is the need of the hour given the situation. We have to look at the positive side that even during these times a tournament like Olympics is going on. We are happy about it.
On partnership with Satwik
It has been really good partnering with Satwik. When I look back, it is one of the best five years in my career. I am looking forward to the future as well. We are still young and have a long way to go. There is a whole lot to achieve together. I hope things will turn out even better in future. The coordination on and off is really good. Both of us have evolved as a pair and we know each other really well.
On lack of tournaments before Olympics
That will hamper not just the Indian contingent but everyone around the world. Many players didn’t get to play tournaments. Obviously we wanted to have match practice but this is surely going to be a different kind of Olympics. No one has an advantage at this point. It is the same for everyone.
On his target in Olympics
I would like to set a target of giving our best every time we step on to the court. Whenever we had done that, we have gone deep into the tournament. That is important. We want to give our best and if we do that, we can get desired results.