For Arjun, returning from injury and with shaky confidence, the last few months had felt tentative.
“It’s because of the sort of human beings Satwik and Chirag are.
They might be No.1 but they always understand what we are going through when we win or lose.
After we won the title at Uganda, Satwik came up to me and said ‘Arju bhai, back to winning ways’.
“I guess we’ve struck form at the right time with the Thomas Cup coming up,” he added.
Thomas Cup 2024, Group C, India 2-1 Thailand LIVE: Shivani Naik's recent article
The pressure of keeping pace with the giant strides of World No.1s, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, isn’t particularly daunting for India’s No.2 doubles pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila. For Arjun, returning from injury and with shaky confidence, the last few months had felt tentative.
“It’s because of the sort of human beings Satwik and Chirag are. They might be No.1 but they always understand what we are going through when we win or lose. After we won the title at Uganda, Satwik came up to me and said ‘Arju bhai, back to winning ways’. He was so happy for us,” Arjun recalls.
“I guess we’ve struck form at the right time with the Thomas Cup coming up,” he added. The 2022 bunch still retains a WhatsApp group called ‘World Champions’, according to Arjun, and he says they carry the belief of that tag every time they step onto the court.
It was a difficult time for both, as Dhruv was eager to resume, and Arjun was adamant he would regain complete fitness before playing at a high level – which would take time. “I totally understood Dhruv’s impatience, because he wasn’t getting to play. He would keep messaging, asking how are you, when will you be back. To be honest it irritated me a lot, because I was out of answers. But it was tough for us both,” he recalls.
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