P.V. Sindhu: 'It's been a good year overall'

The Olympic medallist sees quite a few women players coming up in the country to challenge the Saina-Sindhu stronghold in the women’s circuit.

The 21-year-old shuttler lauded Gopichand academy’s new singles coach Mulyo Handoyo for ushering "a different approach to training”.

Chats in-depth are not often to be had with an athlete at a promotional event. Fans gush in thick, bucked up by the chance of a sight of their favourite star, amid which and what with a mere trifle of a time at disposal, it is only so much that the guest can talk.

It is often that they talk short and quick with little effort to shed diplomacy. That was the case with the badminton star, Olympic silver medallist, P.V. Sindhu, when Sportstar caught up with her at the opening of a new showroom here by the “Sports Suppliers (Madras)” as part of its silver jubilee celebration.

The World Badminton championships are in August in Glasgow, Scotland, and Sindhu is “looking forward to it," adding that there’s ample time to best prepare for it. 

She lauded Gopichand academy’s new singles coach Mulyo Handoyo for ushering "a different approach to training” and believes it to be one of the reasons for the recent success of the Indian players - For instance, Kidambi Srikanth won back-to-back super series titles. 

After a sudden and brief gauging of how the past year had been for her post the Olympic medal, she said, “Expectations are high, of course. So I think, it’s been a good year overall. I’ve won two super series titles after the Rio Olympics - the Indian Open and the China Open. I wish I perform better in the coming tournaments.”

“They are top players and it’s good that they are into coaching,” is what she said, asked how helpful it is to have players like Jwala Gutta and Arvind Bhat in the BAI coaching panel. 

Touching upon the Commonwealth and Asian games due next year, she said there’s “more time” to prepare for them with the immediate focus being on the upcoming World championships. 

The Olympic medallist sees quite a few women players coming up in the country to challenge the Saina-Sindhu stronghold in the women’s circuit and that it is only a matter of time before they gain prominence.

On her rivalry with Olympic champion Carolina Marin, she said, “It (rivalry) is always there with every player. Every player has their own style of play and strategy. It’s only that I’ve played Marin many times now - in and after the Olympics.”