Badminton ace Pullela Gopichand, aiming to put behind an injury-plagued phase, is putting his act together to stage a comeback onto the world stage by playing in six international tournaments in the next two months.
He will take part in the Singapore (from August 19), Indonesian (from August 25) and Malaysian Open (from September two) followed by the Dutch, Danish and German Opens in the second half of September.
The 2001 All-England champion was training in Singapore for sometime and is currently practising at Bangalore. He will be leaving for Singapore on Saturday night.
"I am pretty alright and hope to do well. I have been alright from the Sudirman Cup but there haven't been many international tournaments," he said.
Ranked as high as world number four about two years ago, Gopichand has now slipped to 123 following the long lay-off due to the knee injury for which he underwent surgery in November last year.
On his feelings during the injury-phase that saw him out of action for many months, Gopichand said: "It's all part of life. I have been trying to cope with."
The 29-year-old, who is known to excel in net play and is among the finest and most precise world shuttlers, said his goal now is to get back into action at international level and stay fit.
"I am not expecting great things. I will be happy if I can go there and get good matches... get a couple of wins and take on from there," said Gopichand, who missed the recent World Championships in Birmingham because his ranking was too low.
At the USD 170,000 Singapore Open, he will have to go through the qualifying rounds.
Top players staging a comeback after injury needed to be given ranking protection, he said.
"That's what we are lacking now. I have to go through the qualifying rounds (at the Singapore Open). It's a big strain. When you come back from injury, you won't really push yourself."
