‘Hope no one will question my final losses anymore’
I never think it would be easy. Today also the rallies were 30-40 strokes, but I gave my 100 percent and won. Okuhara also played very well. PV SINDHU, after winning title
GUANGZHOU:PV Sindhu ended the frustration of going 15 months and seven finals without victory on Saturday with the Wold Tour Finals triumph and hoped questions about her ability to win major titles will end now.
After the victory over Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the mega event to sign off the year in style, Sindhu said: “I feel really happy. I have no words because it is my first win this year after coming and losing in the finals; it was memorable. The year has ended on a beautiful note.”
The sequence of losses includes the Commonwealth Games,asiangamesandworld Championships this year. “Somewhere every time people have been asking the same question. I hope the question won’t come to me again, asking why all the time coming to the finals, I lose. I can say now that I won gold, and I am really very proud.
“The last to last year I lost in the semi-final and last year I finished runner-up. This time I am the winner. It is a beautiful tournament for me as I won all matches in the league stages and semifinals and final.”
She admitted she at times lost focus in the final. “Overall there were a lot of rallies. Sometimes I was thinking about the last final but tried to focus again on the match. “Whenever I play Okuhara or (Akane) Yamaguchi, I never think it would be easy. Today also the rallies were 30-40 strokes, but I gave my 100 percent and won. Okuhara also played very well.” Asked about her targets for 2019, Sindhu said: “It’ll be Olympic qualification year and we have to keep fit and strategise which tournaments to play.”
Her mentor and India chief coach Pullela Gopichand said the win was significant. “There has been a lot of talk of her losing the
After Padukone’s 1980 victory, India had to wait for more than 20 years before Gopichand won in 2001. I hope this time it doesn’t take so long. P GOPICHAND, on Sindhu’s target
finals. I think at least, not for anybody else but for Sindhu’s mind, it is important she (finished) with a comprehensive, big win. People have been waiting for it and it is great to have this win at the end of the year.”
Gopichand said her 2019 target would be the All England Championship. “For us, 2020 would be a big one, and then 2022, so basically the Commonwealth, Asian Games and the Olympics are the big events. The All England will be the target next year.
“It has been a while since we won the All England,” he said. After Prakash Padukone’s 1980 victory, India had to wait for more than 20 years before Gopichand won in 2001. I hope this time it doesn’t take so long,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic tournament (World Tour Finals),” he said. “She has beaten players of quality. To beat (Akane) Yamaguchi, (Nozomi) Okuhara, Ratchanok (Inthanon) in the same tournament is special.”