India ace P V Sindhu feels it will be tough to manage her workload during this Olympic qualification year and emphasized on the need to pick and choose the right tournaments to stay fit ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The Olympic qualification period starts April 29 with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) considering the rankings list published on April 30, 2020, to allocate spots.
Since last year, BWF also made it compulsory for the world's top 15 players in the singles events and top 10 pairs in the doubles disciplines to play a minimum of 12 out of 15 tournaments of the World Tour or face a penalty.
Sindhu said choosing the tournaments will be a tricky affair.
"It's definitely going to be tricky and a bit tough considering that this is an Olympics qualification year and you have to be injury free. I know sometimes if you don't play there is a fine and there are some compulsory events but you have to pick and choose," Sindhu said.
"We have to be mentally and physically fit to play every tournament at 100 per cent. So we have to pick and choose tournaments where we can give our 100 per cent."
Asked about her immediate goals, Sindhu said: "Right now the immediate goal is that I have three back-to-back Superseries events. I hope I win them."
Sindhu will be competing at the Malaysia and Singapore Open next month, besides leading the Indian charge at the India Open, starting Tuesday.
"After that there are some more important tournaments like the ABC and World Championships, where I have to give my best."
Seeded second Sindhu is firm favourite to win the India Open title, especially after getting the top billing following the withdrawal of top seed Chen Yufei on medical grounds.
"I had a few weeks to train and I'm all set for the India Open. I hope I do my best. I was the 2017 winner and last year I was the runner-up. But I hope this time I get the title," she said.
"A lot of the top seeders aren't playing but it won't be easy because every player has some other strokes, technique or strategy, so can't think it would be easy. I have to play in a positive way. I'll get the home support and that will be an advantage for me."
After the high of World Tour Finals in December, Sindhu suffered a major jolt when she lost in the first round of All England Championship.
"I felt bad about it because I had practised hard. I lost in the All England just because of my mistakes and my unforced errors. I went back and I had another couple of weeks of training. Now I am back here at the India Open. I hope I do much better."
The 23-year-old from Hyderabad had to live with the chokers tag after finishing second best in a series of major events, including the 2017 and 2018 World Championship, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and Jakarta Asian Games.
But the Indian finally broke the jinx in December last year, claiming the World Tour Finals.
"I have been doing well but suddenly I would go into the final and lose, I don't know what was happening. When I came to the World Tour final, I was thinking that it was my 9th or 10th final, and I was like what's going on? I have to change something," Sindhu said.
"I worked a lot on my strokes, sometimes unforced errors were changing the games, so I really worked hard on that and concentrated on technical changes more than mental changes."
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