The long absence from 2006 robbed him of all his ranking points, and the Prakash Padukone Academy trainee had to rebuild his career from scratch.

Today, he is the second highest ranked Indian in the world after Anup Sridhar, with a world ranking of 44.

After returning to action in the middle of 2007, he won four international titles - at New Caledonia, Czech Republic, Jordan and Syria, results that elevated his ranking considerably, apart from sending his confidence sky high.

“I concentrated on my world ranking after I started playing again; I had lost all my points and I didn’t have a ranking.

“I worked hard to get back to my best and I chose my tournaments well. I think I was a bit lucky as well—these tournaments did not have players who were among the top.

“At that time, I just wanted to earn points to push up my ranking. After that, I have beaten a number of top-50 players,” said a confident Aravind, after booking a semi-final spot at the Pramod Mahajan Senior National Ranking badminton tournament here.

Today, he overpowered Anand Pawar 21-14, 21-19 in the quarter finals, but ahead of him is a much tougher clash—against top seed Anup Sridhar.

Nevertheless, Aravind is unfazed. “Of course, Anup is my main rival, but I will play my own game. I am also playing good.

“I don’t have any strategy in mind for the semi-final against him, but I hope I can put in a good performance,” he said.

Aravind’s next tournament is the Malaysian Super Series, followed by the national championships in Goa.