Kidambi Srikanth submitted his joining report to Guntur collector and took formal charge.
Ace badminton champion Kidambi Srikanth will now be seen discharging new responsibilities - off court and in a Deputy Collector's chair. Srikanth, a Padma Shri awardee, on Wednesday formally took charge as Deputy Collector in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur.
Srikanth submitted his joining report to Guntur collector Kona Shashidhar and took formal charge even though he is not expected to attend office every day and will continue to live train at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.
The newly appointed deputy collector also went to thank the chief minister in Amaravati along with his badminton coach Pullela Gopichand. Srikanth's brother Nandagopal Kidambi is also a shuttler who trains along with Srikanth at the Hyderabad academy. It was a proud moment for Srikanth's father KVS Krishna to see his son take charge in their native district.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had promised Srikanth a government job after he won the title at the Indonesian Championship in June last year.
Srikanth said he's happy to serve the public from his native place.
After being appointed as the Deputy Collector, Srikanth said, "I am happy to serve the public from my native place."
"As of now I want to focus on my game, but will try to understand the responsibilities of the Deputy Collector post and do justice to it," the 25-year-old added.
The ace shuttler also thanked the chief minister, his coaches and the collector for the prestigious post.
Last year, Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu had also assumed the office of Deputy Collector at Gollapudi in Andhra Pradesh state secretariat. The Telangana government had also awarded the ace badminton player with a cash reward of Rs 5 crore and a residential plot.