CHENNAI: “Honestly, I don’t look at the victory as some sort of a revenge win, as many make it out to be.”PV Sindhu could very well have been talking about Nozomi Okuhara on Sunday, but she wasn’t. Her words were from April when she had just put it past Carolina Marin, her vanquisher in Rio, at the Indian Open. The whole country celebrated ‘revenge’. Sindhu insisted it was anything but.
Now we’re all there again. India celebrating ‘revenge’. Sindhu insisting it was just another game.
“I didn’t keep that in my mind,” she said. She may not have. But the fact remains that she beat Nozomi Okuhara just weeks after she lost to her in the World Championships final, much like she beat Marin two months after the Rio final at the BWF World Super Series Final in Dubai (again at the Indian Open). These wins fetched Sindhu other points as well.
They helped her overcome a mental barrier that she can beat these players in big matches. Often in sport, the sight of conquerors can be unsettling. Thoughts of taking them on can be unnerving. By beating them in challenging situations, Sindhu has proven to herself that the best is not invincible.
“This is how you do it. By consistently playing these kinds of big matches and getting used to everything they are about. Sindhu has beaten everyone in the world now,” veteran coach SM Arif told Express.
“If you look at the World Championship final, Sindhu made one mistake. She needs to get even better mentally.”
This was evident in Seoul. In the third game, it seemed Sindhu had missed her chance again. After taking the first set 22-20, she had rather meekly allowed Okuhara to come back, losing the second 11-21. It brought back memories of the Glasgow game where she kept blowing leads.
The third set looked to be following a similar script. An 11-5 lead whittled away to a precarious 18-16.
Then a 56-shot rally, as intense if not spectacular as the 73-shot one in Glasgow, left Sindhu lying on the floor. Just when Sindhu appeared to have run out of batteries, she picked herself up and finished it off. If at a crucial juncture in Glasgow she had appeared distracted, here she knew exactly what to do.
“At 22, she has many years of badminton in her and if she can continue playing, she will reach there (the top) someday. It’s important she recovers well and plays the next tournament. I’m not too worried about that,” coach Pullela Gopichand was quoted as saying.The veteran coach need not say more. His ward seems to have cracked the mental code.
Road to title
R32: bt Cheung Ngan Yi (HKG) 21-13, 21-8
R16: bt Nitchaon Jindapol (THA) 22-20, 21-17
QF: bt Minatsu Mitani (JPN) 21-19, 16-21, 21- 10
SF: bt He Bingjiao (CHN) 21-10, 17-21, 21-16
Final: bt Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) 22-20, 11-21, 21- 18
vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com