Sawt Falasteen - Revenge off the menu for Ginting at badminton world championships in Paris

Ill fortune struck for the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist ahead of the 2024 Games when he began to suffer discomfort in his playing shoulder in the build-up to the event.

Although the 28-year-old fought through the pain to compete at the Olympics, the injury required surgery which then forced Ginting to miss the majority of the 2025 season.

"The problem started just before the Olympics last year but I still played on," Ginting said on Saturday after a training session in Paris where the world championships will take place from August 25-31.

"But at the start of the year I needed to have surgery to fix it so I ended up missing out for six months."

Ginting revealed he continued to train and socialise every day with his team-mates during his convalescence.

However, being unable to participate fully in sessions while he focussed on individual rehabilitation elsewhere in the training centre was a big challenge.

"It was hard because I was there with them while they prepared for competitions but I had to stay apart and work a lot on my own," he said.

However, while Ginting was using this period to rehabilitate he also took time to work on himself as a person.

"I had a lot of time to think and look at my mind and spirit, and I decided that moving forward I want to be more positive," Ginting explained.

"I want to focus on the positives and not on what happened, I'm at peace with that now. So one of my aims moving forward is to adopt this mindset."

- 'It's in the past' -

This new philosophy will be put to the test when Ginting kicks off his world championships campaign against home hope Toma Junior Popov early next week.

Defeat against the 15th-seeded Frenchman in the same venue last summer eliminated Ginting from the group stage of the Olympics.

If the Indonesian did allow himself a coy smile when the word 'revenge' was put to him, he insisted positivity would be the key for his preparations for the round of 64 encounter.

"In my mind I want to stay positive above all," he said.

"Obviously I'm aware of what happened last time here in this arena, but it's in the past and I don't want to let that (desire for revenge) come into my thinking."

Since returning from injury, Ginting has played in two tournaments -- the China Open and Japan Open last month -- but suffered early exits in both.

Now number 73 in the world, his protected rank ensured his place in the world championships, however reclimbing that ladder as quickly as possible is not foremost on Ginting's list of priorities as he looks to the future.

"Obviously while out, my ranking dropped very much. But the most important thing for me is refinding my (playing) level," he said.

"In China and Japan, I lost but I didn't play at my level. Those were my only competitions so far, and in training you just can't recreate the atmosphere and intensity of a real match.

"Here in Paris and the next tournaments, I want to get to having that level I have in training in real matches."

And if Ginting can find that level, the ranking points will take care of themselves.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST