New Delhi: It has been a constructive begin to the season for Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, particularly after a under par 2024 the place the shuttler from Chennai languished in qualifying rounds of most tournaments.
Sankar Muthusamy. (HT Picture)
The 21-year-old made the headlines in 2022 when he turned the junior world No.1 following which he made the lads’s singles ultimate of the BWF World Junior Championships. After graduating to the senior stage in 2023, Sankar rose by way of the ranks to achieve a few finals — profitable Luxembourg Open — earlier than stagnating in 2024.
However the southpaw has had a contemporary begin this 12 months, reaching the quarter-finals of the Thailand Masters and Swiss Open, beating higher-ranked opponents. In Basel, he additionally achieved a major excessive when he beat world No.2 and three-time World Championships medallist Anders Antonsen within the pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open, hammering the Dane 21-5 within the ultimate sport.
“Overall, 2025 has been going well for me. Starting from Thailand Masters, I’ve played a series of good matches. My work (in training) has been paying off. In January, we trained for a good three weeks, the effects of which have lasted 2-3 months,” Sankar mentioned from Jakarta the place he’s attending a month-long camp.
“My game has been a bit sharper than 2024 in terms of strokes. I have been sharper in my offence too with more precision in my strokes which has really helped me.”
The outcomes are exhibiting for Sankar who on Tuesday achieved his career-best rating of 56. However the teen — the son of a retired Chennai Port Belief official and a housewife — is just not happy, understanding that to make it huge he must get into the highest 32 on the earth which is able to mechanically assist him qualify for the massive tournaments and never battle by way of the ache of qualifying matches.
“I have to break into the top 32 as soon as possible. Only then I’ll be able to play all tournaments, including Super 1000. That’s what I am focusing on. This is the goal as of now,” mentioned Sankar, who’s coached by Aravind Samiappan on the Fireball Badminton Academy in Mogappair, Chennai.
Basically a defensive participant, Sankar has a relaxed fashion of play, filled with subtleties which makes shot-making look simple. However the 21-year-old is aware of that to achieve the highest echelons, he must up his attacking sport which has landed him up in Indonesia.
“Basically, I am a defensive player. I like retrieving shuttles. But the last few months my attacking shots have been a bit more precise and sharper. I am attacking more compared to what I used to earlier. I need to get better at it to keep the opponent under pressure,” mentioned Sankar.
After touchdown in Jakarta on April 1, Sankar has been coaching with Indonesian children beneath former Indonesia nationwide males’s singles coach Harry Hartono, who has coached the likes of former Asian and All England champion Jonatan Christie, in a non-public camp.
Sankar determined to coach beneath Hartono after the 2 met on the Indonesia Masters final August when Hartono had invited him to affix the camp. The 2 acquired in contact once more in February the place the Indonesian advised him concerning the April camp. Noticing the hole within the calendar, Sankar determined to take the chance.
It’s not the primary time he has determined to take the overseas route. Two years again, he took half in a two-week camp with the French crew beneath their males’s singles coach Kestutis Navickas, sparring with world No.10 Alex Lanier.
Earlier than that he had additionally spent classes with Fernando Rivas, coach of three-time world champion Carolina Marin, and in Netherlands with Aram Mahmoud.
“I wanted to try different types of training, approaches and coaches, wanted to know how they work, train and things like that,” mentioned Sankar, who will subsequent play on the Taipei Open, Thailand Open and Malaysia Masters in Could.