Dipankar practising at the Kanaklata Indoor Stadium on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Jan. 16: Having spent nearly five years in the wilderness, former badminton star Dipankar Bhattacharjee has “very modest expectations” from the forthcoming senior nationals — a meet he had all but monopolised for most of the Nineties before dropping out of the highly-demanding circuit because of multiple injuries in 1998.

The three-time national champion (1994, ’95 and ’96) and two-time Olympian (1992, 1996) returns as captain of the 21-member Assam team for the senior nationals in Guwahati from January 29 to February 4.

Bhattacharjee, who had been painfully picking up the pieces to stage a comeback, admitted to The Telegraph, “At the moment I have only two things in mind for the nationals. I want to get back on to the court to break the mental block, give my best and ensure that everybody in the team does the same. I will take one match at a time.”

That the expectations of the champion shuttler are “modest” could also be gauged from his list of favourites for the meet, “If Gopichand plays he will definitely be the frontrunner, along with Aparna Popat. Otherwise, it could be Chetan Anand, Abhin Shyam Gupta in the men’s section and B.R. Minaxi, Jwala Gutta and Nilima Choudhury in the women’s section. Then we have Bahniman Bora and Krishna Deka Raja who are capable of upsetting calculations.” Bhattacharjee’s last nationals appearance was against Gupta in the semis of the 1988 edition.

The Indian Oil Limited officer admitted that captaincy has come as a big morale booster, given the situation he is in today.

“It is a great honour. I would have been happy playing in the qualifiers, but now that I am in the team I will ensure that I am not a liability. Our team is young and highly talented,” the genial and soft-spoken Bhattacharjee said.

Having gone through a gamut of therapies — allopathic, ayurvedic, homeopathic and yogic — to rehabilitate himself as a player, it is only natural for the former star to be a bit wary about his form and fitness.

“The outcome of the nationals will not have any impact on my comeback plans. I will use it to get over the fear factor and then use the two to three months break to get ready for playing in the ranking meets,” he observed in between practice sessions at the Kanaklata Indoor Stadium.

Justifying the Assam Badminton Association’s faith in Dipankar, the chairman of its selection committee, Pradeep Chaliha, remarked, “Dipankar is not only our senior-most player but also the most experienced. He may not have played competitive badminton but he has been preparing hard to make a comeback. His very presence in the team, we are sure, will give rival teams the blues. His reputation precedes him.”

Chaliha, however, made it clear that form and fitness would be the guiding factors while deciding the composition of the state team which has a good chance of making it to the final in the eight-team field if it can overcome Railway Sports Promotion Board in the first round.

In the next round, it will play the winner of Kerala and Maharashtra.

The Assam men’s team will have seven players playing three singles and two doubles, while the women’s team will have four players.

Going by form, Bahniman Bora and Pallav Deka are almost sure for the two singles berths, while for the third it will be a toss up between Ajanta Choudhury, Amitabh Goswami and Dipankar.

Captain’s choice

Men’s: P. Gopichand/Chetan Anand/Abhin Shyam Gupta

Women’s: Aparna Popat/B.R. Minaxi/Jwala Gutta