HYDERABAD: When the Indian contingent left for the Glasgow World Championships with its largest ever contingent, a lot of hopes were pinned on players like Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu. As so often is the case, Sindhu carried the weight of expectations, and provided what everyone back home wanted from her — a medal.
Sindhu fell against her Japanese opponent Nozomi Okuhara, 21-19, 20-22, 22-20, in a 110-minute final. The silver was her third medal from the World Championships, after bronze in 2013 and 2014. It was back in 2013, when Sindhu created history by becoming the first Indian women’s singles player to win a medal at the Championship. The feat was noteworthy not only because the Hyderabadi achieved the unprecedented, but also because she was only 18. At that age, usually a player is stepping into the senior circuit. And the transition phase can take time. But not for Sindhu.
She has been delivering at the senior circuit right from the very start, and has kept on beating top players like Li Xuerei, Wang Shixian and Bae Yeon-ju. At the 2014 World Championships Sindhu again proved her mettle by bagging bronze, thereby becoming the first Indian to win two medals at the event. Of course, she went on to win an Olympic silver, and a lot of other laurels as well, but it was perhaps those two World Championship medals, that shaped her future. The fact that none of the other shuttlers in the country, except for Saina Nehwal, have managed this kind of success shows that Sindhu is at a different level.
“Sindhu has been performing well since 2012, and beating all the top players. It is not easy for a young player to perform at their best, at the senior level. I haven’t really seen her struggle with her game till now. She won two back-to-back medals at the World Championship at the start of her career, which is a big achievement,” HS Prannoy, who trains with Sindhu at Pullela Gopichand’s academy, told Express.
“And yes, after the Olympic silver, her confidence has sky-rocketed. Now she is certainly one of the best players in the world. As she started early, she knows what it takes to get the medals. In a way she has been lucky that she tasted success early in her career. That is helping her stay hungry for more,” added Prannoy.
While one can hear a lot of players picking up injuries, there has hardly been a time when Sindhu has been out injured for long.
And since Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo has come to India, her fitness has only improved. “Sindhu is very fit. You don’t see her getting injured very often. That has been one of the keys to her success. I have never seen her losing a match because of tiredness. After Mulyo came to India, her fitness has improved further. If she just execute her plans a little better on the court, she will be unstoppable,” Prannoy concluded.
madhav@newindianexpress.com