India, June 27 -- "Well, you can say that," says a sheepish Murali Sreeshankar on being asked if competing again feels like a rebirth of sorts. For someone who recovered from life-threatening appendicitis surgery in 2018 and a potentially career-ending knee injury that thwarted his hopes for a Paris Olympics participation in 2024, expressions of the kind mentioned above take on a whole new, and perhaps deeper meaning.

"I am genuinely happy to be competing again. I thank God each day for this. So yes, in a sense it's a rebirth for me and I can't be more grateful for this," he said. The 27-year-old went under the knife for a patellar tendon rupture in April 2024 at Aspetar Hospital in Doha and returned to competitions last year. The proced...