‘Confident, happy’ Sindhu warms up for bigger battles
Reigning world champion breezes into the Round of 16 with two comfortable wins in Group stage
After quick shadow practice, PV Sindhu was ready. Across the net was NY Cheung from Hong Kong, a player with one career title to Sindhu’s 15. Barring a stutter midway into the second game, Sindhu, the reigning world champion, showed she was in no mood to linger. She won 21-9, 21-16, and moved to the Round of 16.
Not too long before that, in another court, Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara was stretched by Evgeniya Kosetskaya of the Russian Olympic Committee. Okuhara, the All England Champion and one who has caused Sindhu enough heartburn in the past, had a lot of pressure to deal with. An Olympics at home—crowd or now crowd – can be intimidating.
Sindhu’s burden is not light either. From Rio to Tokyo, through an Olympic silver and world title, she has been under scrutiny on and off the court. On the court because of indifferent form going to the Olympics, off it because her face is on billboards and in television advertisements; she has nearly 3 million followers on Twitter, and 1.8 million on Instagram.
She accepts the pressure that comes with her stature.
“There will be pressure, and you should know how to deal with it. When you go on to the court, you want to keep the pressure away, you have to be focused. Whatever the situation during the match, you have to just let it go and stay in the present,” she said on Wednesday.
Sindhu wears her stardom lightly. She learned to navigate through it early, having been touted as one for the future, the heir to Saina Nehwal. Successive silver medals at the world championships before a gold in 2019 means the statuesque shuttler has been in the final of every world or Olympic event since 2016.
En route she, too, has changed. From a shy teenager, speaking to the media in oneliners, Sindhu is a battle-hardened athlete forged by the challenges of a brutal, unforgiving badminton circuit.
“A lot has changed in these last four years. In Rio I was 21, now I am 26,” Sindhu said with a laugh. “Personally, experience-wise, responsibility-wise, it is different. My confidence level has gone up. I am feeling good. Coming out of the group stage was important, I am happy about it. From now on, every match is going to be a knockout and I can say I am ready,” she said.
Change in coaching
What has also changed is her coach. Pullela Gopichand, under whom she won the Rio silver, is no longer courtside. Sindhu has been training under Korean coach Park Tae-sang since September 2019. In Hyderabad, she now practises at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, and not at Gopichand’s academy where she learnt the ropes.
That was because training in a bigger stadium would provide the right setting for matches in Tokyo, Sindhu said.
“At Gachibowli, because it is big you get to know the shuttle control and wind. It has always been the same here when we play in the Japan Open at this venue. So, from the point of view of preparation it was an important step.”
The break due to the pandemic, too, has helped, she said.
“It has always been about coming from one tournament and preparing for the next. This long gap gave me the time to work on my technique and skills.”
The absence of defending champion and friend Carolina Marin has made Sindhu the biggest badminton draw at Tokyo 2020. But the women’s singles field is intensely competitive.
The endurance and tenacity of Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi, the deceptive skills of Tai Tzu Ying, and a Sindhu intent on the attack does make for riveting contests.
To get deeper in the draw, however, Sindhu will first need to see off Denmark’s World No. 12 Mia Blichfledt on Thursday. On Wednesday, Sindhu’s outing was near-perfect. She covered the court well, worked the angles, and dictated the tempo. And when she did struggle, she swiftly seized control.
“In the second game today, it was getting difficult to control the shuttle. There were so many enforced errors, four five clears went out. I told myself to just be there and focus on one point at a time,” Sindhu said.
She predicted a tough contest against Blichfledt. “Mia is an aggressive player and I need to be aggressive too. It is going to be a tough match, and I am prepared for that. There will be no easy points.”
With India’s medal hopes badly hit in shooting, Sindhu acknowledged there was greater expectation from her. “The hype for the Olympics is going to be there. This time it came after five years. They (fans) might think it is easy, I am sure they are showing their love and want us to win, but sometimes it just may not be our day. If you have given your best on the day, there will be no regret. People might say things, you see that happening in social media and all but at the end of the day it is the Olympics and everybody would want to give their 100 per cent,” she said.
The venue is not new to her but Sindhu is missing the crowds. “I have played here in the Japan Open. The stadium is never full but there are enough people in the stand to make an atmosphere. It feels a bit different.”
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