Mahoor Shahzad resumes badminton training after ankle injury

Pakistan’s top badminton star Mahoor Shahzad has resumed training after recovering from an ankle injury that forced her to pull out from Algeria Open last week.

Shahzad had suffered from an ankle injury during her training sessions in Denmark ahead of the badminton tournament.

Although she is yet to fully recover, Shahzad stated that it is important for her to remain in practice as she is aiming to participate in three international tournaments next month.

“I had an ankle twist while I was training in Denmark, so my physiotherapist over there strictly recommended me to avoid training for some days, following which I decided to return to Pakistan,” Shahzad told Geo.

Read more: Pakistan's Mahoor Shahzad eyes Tokyo 2020 after world's top 150 ranking milestone

“Today was my first day in court after a week long rest, so it felt good to be back after many days. Even though I was able to do short movements, my ankle still started to hurt afterwards. I hope I recover from my injury soon so that I can move freely in the court,” she added.

She added that the injury forced her to withdraw from the Algeria International 2019 where she could have earned good points to improve her ranking.

“Not only this, I had to miss two weeks of my training in Denmark because of this injury. In badminton, you have to practice regularly to maintain fitness, skills and technique. Since I didn’t do any exercise in the last week, I now need to work hard to be back in form.

Instead of learning something new or improving it, I will have to spend time on getting back in form. This simply means that I have come one step down the ladder instead of moving forward,” she highlighted.

Shahzad is now aiming to prepare herself for three international tournaments, all in the next month starting from Pakistan International Series 2019 which will be held in Islamabad from 7 to 11 November 2019.

“After the Pakistan International Series in November, I am planning to play Botswana International 2019 in November, then Zambia International 2019 in the end of November and start of December, SAF Games in December, and finally the Turkey Open 2019 in the end of December, which will mark my last tournament for the year 2019,” Shahzad mentioned.

And, like many Pakistani athletes, Shahzad is also aiming to earn a place in next year’s Tokyo Olympics, but to achieve that she has an uphill task ahead.

“I need to improve my speed and make my shots accurate for which I will work on once I recover from my injury. Besides this, I also need to play many international tournaments and do well in them to improve my world ranking,” said the 23 year old Badminton player.