For years, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu battled inconsistency. She would upset a top-ranked player and then lose in the very next round. She also had a tendency to concede matches from winning positions. A foot injury last year added to her struggles. Together, they shadowed her performances.
At Rio de Janeiro, though, it was a very different picture. The 21-year-old from Hyderabad was a transformed athlete with consistency and self-belief on bold display. Not only was Sindhu’s giant-killing attitude evident, but also her ability to stay calm in pressure situations. The world no. 10 had finally emerged from the shadow of Saina Nehwal.
Sindhu, a two-time World Championship bronze medallist, eventually took the Olympic silver, losing to world no. 1 Carolina Marin of Spain in the final, but for millions of Indians it was a gold-winning show. Sindhu’s silver, the country’s first ever from badminton, coming on the heels of wrestler Sakshi Malik’s bronze medal lifted the mood of the nation.
With Rio being her first Olympics, not much was expected from the young Hyderabadi and hopes were pinned on Saina to go one better than her bronze at the 2012 London Games. Hobbled by injury, Saina failed to live up to expectations, and it was only after Sindhu’s shock wins over higher-ranked players — world no. 2 Wang Yihan and world no. 6 Nozomi Okuhara — that hopes of a medal were rekindled.
The way Sindhu dictated terms, changed her strategy and maintained momentum in both matches were outstanding. Against Wang — London 2012 silver medallist — Sindhu matched the mighty Chinese in rallies, deft net play and counter-attacks before eventually taming her with deep smashes on the corners. Okuhara was a fitter player but the Indian stretched her by playing the back and front courts with drops, tosses and smashes.
In the final though Marin was just too good for Sindhu with her angled cross-court smashes, the Indian fought on bravely in each of the three tough games. Sindhu lost eventually but after playing her heart out against the wily left-hander. Gopi’s belief Born to former volleyball players P.V. Ramana and P. Vijaya, Sindhu’s taking to sports was inevitable. But Pullela Gopichand has been the force behind her success — right from the day she took up a racquet.
Gopichand, who mentored Saina’s bronze medal winning effort in 2012, laid out the road-map for the young shuttler — from her training regime, diet, sleep pattern, et al. Ahead of the Games, Gopi had said the badminton contingent had multiple potential winners unlike in 2012. He felt his debutants — Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth — could go the distance. Srikanth exited in the quarter-finals to two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan.
Results began to show after three months of intensive training where Sindhu also gave up things she liked to do, including her mobile phone, movies and junk food. Defence and leg-strengthening were major focus areas.
Gopichand said after the Olympic final: “The most striking feature about Sindhu is her great work ethic. The best thing about her game is her attitude and never-say-die spirit. I think she’s a great fighter, though she is capable of doing better in terms of her defensive ability. She has been inconsistent a few times and squandered leads, but I think it’s part of her learning experience. She is still young, and has age on her side.”
Good mental conditioning made her stay calm and confident during matches at Rio. “We had a lot of sessions with Sindhu and made her realise that she had to change her body language on court in order to reflect strength against opponents. That she needed to maintain eye contact with her opponents no matter if she won or lost points, be confident from the very start. And it worked. Her self-belief was evident and she looked confident in Rio,” said India team psychologist Mridu Sharma.
‘Badminton always her first love’ For Ramana, Sindhu’s father, playing and winning an Olympic medal was his dream as an international player, and one that his daughter lived out. “We are really very happy, lucky as well. She has made us and the country proud. It was my dream to win a medal at the Olympics but the Indian volleyball team never qualified for the Games. She has made me win a medal,” Ramana told this newspaper.
Ramana recalled that Gopichand’s All England title in 2001 had left a big impact on Sindhu. “Sindhu met Gopi during a felicitation function in Hyderabad in 2001. I was awarded the Arjuna and Gopi, the Khel Ratna. I introduced her to Gopi and he had then told her, ‘Sindhu, don’t play volleyball, play badminton’. She took it in a very positive way. And in 2005, Gopi approached me to send her to his academy.”
Vijaya was a content mother and felt her daughter’s sacrifices and hard work had paid off. “Everyday is not same and every player cannot play his best game every time. I am happy with her silver. She will do better next time.” As Gopichand said, the Rio, the silver is just the beginning for Sindhu and she “has a long way to go”. Now he has another responsibility — to turn Sindhu’s silver to gold in the next Olympics in Tokyo.
