PV Sindhu: Shuttling to success
Added: (Sat Aug 31 2019)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
That’s how long she took to win the final of the BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Championships in Basel last Sunday against Nozomi—two years after her 110-minute loss to the same player in the same event in the same round. The title puts to rest doubts over Sindhu’s ability to jump the final hurdle—11 years since she turned professional, seven years after her international debut and after second-place finishes in the last two World Championships and the 2016 Olympic Games.
“If you are consistently in that space and knocking that door, it will break eventually," coach Gopi said in a December interview to Mint, with memories of her silver medal from the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 still fresh in the mind.
“This is my answer to the people who have asked me questions over and over. I just wanted to answer with my racket and with this win, that’s all.
For her badminton colleagues, the title seemed inevitable because Sindhu, currently ranked world No.5, has consistently been a top 10 player for the last three years and has lost a few finals by feather-thin margins.
Last year, for example, she beat Okuhara in the BWF World Tour Finals but lost to her in the Thailand Open final, lost in the Asian Games final to Tai Tzu Ying, lost to Carolina Marin in the World Championships final, to Saina in the Commonwealth Games final, and to Beiwen in the India Open final.