Reaching Finals is No Mean Feat For PV Sindhu; Vows To Pocket Some Titles This Year
PV Sindhu, since her Olympic silver medal has been India’s one of the most consistent players across any category, discipline or sport. In fact she is out of the very few in the country who have managed to improve their performance in whatever tournaments they play. But it was a rude shock to her fans when she lost to Saina Nehwal in the final of the CWG women’s singles, and settled for a silver. What they don’t realise is that she perhaps had a bad day in the office, and yet she managed to improve upon the bronze medal that she won at CWG 2014.
PV Sindhu (Image: AFP)
PV Sindhu, since her Olympic silver medal has been India’s one of the most consistent players across any category, discipline or sport. In fact she is out of the very few in the country who have managed to improve their performance in whatever tournaments they play. But it was a rude shock to her fans when she lost to Saina Nehwal in the final of the CWG women’s singles, and settled for a silver. What they don’t realise is that she perhaps had a bad day in the office, and yet she managed to improve upon the bronze medal that she won at CWG 2014.
Of course her losing spree in the final of prestigious events has been on a rise—lost to Beiwen Zhang in India Open final this year—but she is not falling without giving a fight in these games. The Hyderabadi has time and again proven that she can win tournaments too, having pocketed three Superseries titles—China Open, India Open and Korea Open in the last two years.
Despite her mixed returns, Sindhu is still in a happy space to fight for more titles, and give it her best shot in the tournaments to come. In an exclusive chat with News18 Sports, the 22-year-old maintains that she wants to keep a sanguine approach, despite the pressure she faces in the final.
“People often ask me why do I lose out after coming to the finals. But my answer to them is coming to the finals in itself is a very big thing. Earlier, it was just that I used to reach quarterfinals and semifinals. So in the final, it’s just about losing a point or two at a crucial juncture. Here luck also plays its part. I’m only learning from these finals, and I will come back much stronger.
“Both the medals at CWG were very satisfying. It was a very good result for us in the mixed team event, and for the very first time we managed to bag a gold in this category. As far as the silver medal in the singles in concerned, I am happy that I could improve from pervious edition’s bronze. I hope I can change the colour of that one in the next games. Overall I achieved what I wanted to,” Sindhu said.
While badminton aficionados have already forgotten about her much-famed rivalry with Spain’s Carolina Marin, now a lot of weightage is given to her Japanese opponents, be it Nozomi Okuhara or Akane Yamaguchi. Though a lot is also being talked about her rivalry with Saina Newhal, she just treats her like any other opponent.
"I think I always have long matches against Japanese players. It’s never easy to play against them. If you see my matches against them, every match is going over an hour. So it's always a tough game against them. But when you're on the court, you have to treat every player alike. "
Sindhu, in the past has been pretty vocal about the tight schedule Indian shuttlers have this year, and because of that very reason she wants to pick and choose tournaments according to their importance. Apart from Superseries tournaments, she has her eyes set on Asian Games that will be held in August.
"Asian Games is definitely going to be tougher than the CWG. The field is going to be a lot stronger. But then I have a lot of Superseries tournaments coming up, where I have perform well and which will also serve as a preparation to Asian Games.
"I’ll have to pick and choose tournaments and discuss this with my coaches. Injuries could happen anytime, so you have to keep a check on what tournaments to play and what not. In our sport, or any sport for that matter, fitness is of utmost importance. So I would do that too."
To be the best in the world, Sindhu needs to constantly evolve her game according to what the situation demands. And the next on the list is to add some more strokes in her game.
"There are certain areas for improvement, and it’s not like I have learnt everything about the sport. Every time you step on the court you learn new things, add new strokes to your game. I need to keep on learning to get better in the game. If I have to single out one area where I need to work a bit is my strokes," she concluded.
Of course her losing spree in the final of prestigious events has been on a rise—lost to Beiwen Zhang in India Open final this year—but she is not falling without giving a fight in these games. The Hyderabadi has time and again proven that she can win tournaments too, having pocketed three Superseries titles—China Open, India Open and Korea Open in the last two years.
Despite her mixed returns, Sindhu is still in a happy space to fight for more titles, and give it her best shot in the tournaments to come. In an exclusive chat with News18 Sports, the 22-year-old maintains that she wants to keep a sanguine approach, despite the pressure she faces in the final.
“People often ask me why do I lose out after coming to the finals. But my answer to them is coming to the finals in itself is a very big thing. Earlier, it was just that I used to reach quarterfinals and semifinals. So in the final, it’s just about losing a point or two at a crucial juncture. Here luck also plays its part. I’m only learning from these finals, and I will come back much stronger.
“Both the medals at CWG were very satisfying. It was a very good result for us in the mixed team event, and for the very first time we managed to bag a gold in this category. As far as the silver medal in the singles in concerned, I am happy that I could improve from pervious edition’s bronze. I hope I can change the colour of that one in the next games. Overall I achieved what I wanted to,” Sindhu said.
While badminton aficionados have already forgotten about her much-famed rivalry with Spain’s Carolina Marin, now a lot of weightage is given to her Japanese opponents, be it Nozomi Okuhara or Akane Yamaguchi. Though a lot is also being talked about her rivalry with Saina Newhal, she just treats her like any other opponent.
"I think I always have long matches against Japanese players. It’s never easy to play against them. If you see my matches against them, every match is going over an hour. So it's always a tough game against them. But when you're on the court, you have to treat every player alike. "
Sindhu, in the past has been pretty vocal about the tight schedule Indian shuttlers have this year, and because of that very reason she wants to pick and choose tournaments according to their importance. Apart from Superseries tournaments, she has her eyes set on Asian Games that will be held in August.
"Asian Games is definitely going to be tougher than the CWG. The field is going to be a lot stronger. But then I have a lot of Superseries tournaments coming up, where I have perform well and which will also serve as a preparation to Asian Games.
"I’ll have to pick and choose tournaments and discuss this with my coaches. Injuries could happen anytime, so you have to keep a check on what tournaments to play and what not. In our sport, or any sport for that matter, fitness is of utmost importance. So I would do that too."
To be the best in the world, Sindhu needs to constantly evolve her game according to what the situation demands. And the next on the list is to add some more strokes in her game.
"There are certain areas for improvement, and it’s not like I have learnt everything about the sport. Every time you step on the court you learn new things, add new strokes to your game. I need to keep on learning to get better in the game. If I have to single out one area where I need to work a bit is my strokes," she concluded.