HYDERABAD: It has been a phenomenal year for PV Sindhu. Though the final Superseries tournament of the year did not go in her favour (she lost the summit clash of the BWF Superseries Finals to Akane Yamaguchi 21-15, 12-21, 19-21 on Sunday), she did enough over the course of the last 12 months to keep her head high.
The Hyderabadi was involved in some of the most intense matches of the year, including the epic Worlds final against Nozomi Okuhara that lasted 110 minutes, and the one against Yamaguchi on Sunday that fell just seven short of a century of minutes. If Kidambi Srikanth had an unprecedented year with four Superseries wins, his Gopichand Academy mate was not too far behind. The 22-year-old lifted two Superseries titles (India Open, Korea Open), and reached the finals of six big tournaments (Superseries, Grand Prix Gold and Worlds included).
Much like the Worlds final, she came agonisingly close to pocketing the Superseries Finals trophy, only to fall short at the last possible hurdle. Anyone who followed the Superseries Finals would have hailed the Indian as the title favourite, as Sindhu had a 5-2 head-to-head record against the diminutive Japanese.
To top that, their league stage match, two nights ago, too went in Sindhu’s favour, with the World No 3 defeating her opponent 12-21, 21-8, 21-15. Yamaguchi sent all those equations for a toss in her victory. The result notwithstanding, veteran coach SM Arif termed Sunday’s effort as one of her best. “I think this was one of the best matches she has ever played, considering Yamaguchi is a fighter to the core,” Arif told Express.
Tiring out the opponents is how Yamaguchi nails her victories, according to the Dronacharya award-winning coach. The final game seemed to be played only in rallies, with the first three generating 30, 51 and 40 shots.
Though all three went in Sindhu’s favour, Yamaguchi held her nerves in the final moments of the match to emerge victorious. “Her forte is playing long rallies, and she did exactly that against Sindhu. While Sindhu’s stamina seemed to be waning in the end, as she struggled to play the attacking shots she normally does, Yamaguchi was still going for it. Her strength lies in tiring out the opponents with those rallies,” Arif opined. The fact that Sindhu was reportedly suffering from a bout of cold could have also played a role in her defeat.
Arif is of the opinion that Sindhu needs to elevate her stamina to take on shuttlers like Yamaguchi. “She has got to develop her stamina. The game is becoming faster by the day.”
She might have lost the match, but the way she landed those accurate shots on the line was impressive. So has she improved her fitness in the last year that lets her play those shots? “She got a lot of time to recover after the last tournament, which was more than 15 days ago. That helped her,” said Johnson Solomon, India physio.
Sindhu has one more assignment — the Premier Badminton League that will run from December 23 to January 14 — to sign off 2017, and she will be looking to make the year even more memorable.
vishal@newindianexpress.com