Dealing with mental pressure, maintaining fitness: Sai Praneeth, G Sathiyan on challenges that lie ahead of 2020 Olympics

India's No 1 men's singles badminton player, Sai Praneeth has to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. The 27-year-old told ET Panache, "There are still so many tournaments for the qualifications and also there are many others who are fighting for the spot. The first thing at the moment is to focus on qualification for the Olympics and then comes the stage for preparations. The difficult part for me is to maintain fitness for a long time."

While physical form is a concern for Praneeth, table-tennis's No 1 singles player in the men's game from India, G Sathiyan has the mind to manage. "When I played the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games a few years ago, it did have a big impact on me. I am prepared, this might be my first Olympics, but I do have the experience of playing two big other games in 2018. I am working very closely with my mental conditioning coach to take it as a normal tournament," he told ET Panache.

Boxer, Amit Panghal who is looking to qualify in the flyweight category will bank on dedication to make the cut. "I try to follow my schedule in detail and dedication as I prepare for the Olympics. I have foreign as well as Indian coaches who prepare the schedule for me. The focus is more on fitness and in the past year. I have built on my fitness. I have an Olympic qualifier coming up for which I am in good shape to give my best punch. There is some mental pressure which by practicing I am trying to keep at bay. The kind of confidence that I get by practicing, I don't get from anything else," he told ET Panache.


The next few months will be crunch time for these men as they try to make their Olympic qualification dream come true.