Monday, 17 May 2021 | PTI | New Delhi
The lack of competitions before the Olympics is a major concern for Indian shuttlers but not so much for PV Sindhu, who trusts her Korean coach Park Tae Sang to create match situations for her in training itself.
Owing to the raging Covid-19 pandemic, the Badminton World Federation has been forced to cancel the remaining three Olympic qualifiers in India, Malaysia and Singapore. These were to be the last set of events before the Tokyo Games in July-August.
Asked if cancellations will affect her preparations, Sindhu said: “Well, we were thinking that Singapore will be the last event before Olympics but now we don’t have another option, so I am playing matches against different players and my coach Park is trying to create match situations for me in training.
“Different players have different styles like Tai Tzu (Ying) or Ratchanok (Intanon) have different styles of play but Park is there to guide me, to prepare me for it,” Sindhu said.
“Obviously, we will be playing each other after a few months and there will be something new in our games, so I will have to prepare for that.”
Sindhu doesn’t train with the rest of the Indian Olympic-bound team. She has been training at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Telangana and does her fitness training at Suchitra academy.
The 25-year-old endorsed BWF’s decision to cancel the events, saying while it is sad that competitions could not take place but but life is more important than sports.
“It is sad that the whole world has come to a standstill but before sportspersons, we are human beings and life comes first,” Sindhu said.
“If tournaments happen, we don’t know if we will be safe, we might think we will be but we can’t be sure because we don’t know from where this virus will come.
“For the moment, events are being cancelled and I know sportspersons are sad but I think it is good for the people…Organisers take a lot of measures and keep us in a bubble but still we need to be careful.”
Sindhu, who had reached the finals of Swiss Open in March after returning to action following a long break, said she is improving as a player.
“It has been a good campaign so far this year. I have been improving as a player. My coach has analysed my game, so really looking forward to the Olympics. My dad also helps me a lot,” she said.
