PV Sindhu: Fine tuning before the real deal at Tokyo Olympics

As Tokyo Olympics approach, shuttler and Rio silver medallist PV Sindhu focuses on simulating match situations, getting stadium feel

PV Sindhu’s personal life has changed quite a bit through the last few months. She shifted homes, became a pet parent to an eight-month-old dog, and took to painting, cooking and baking with great fervour.

It has been four months since PV Sindhu shifted base from the SAI-Gopichand National Badminton Academy to the Gachibowli stadium. (Getty Images)

Sounds like a life well adapted to the forced seclusion caused by the pandemic, but that’s not the complete picture. In her professional life, there has been little change. Lockdown or not, the reigning badminton world champion heads to the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad every morning to train for two hours with her Korean coach Park Tae Sang. The evenings are complemented by working on fitness—weight training, running, strength and conditioning at a fitness centre called Suchitra Academy.

“I had taken permission (from the authorities to go out and train) because the Olympics is less than a month away,” Sindhu said over a video call from Hyderabad. Telangana was under lockdown from May 12 to June 20. “It was important and much required.”

It has been four months since the Olympic silver medallist shifted base from the SAI-Gopichand National Badminton Academy to the Gachibowli stadium, which hosted the 2009 BWF World Championships. The move was an effort to recreate the feel of the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, the venue for badminton competitions at the Tokyo Olympics.

“It’s a much bigger stadium, like the size of the stadiums abroad when we go play tournaments in different countries,” Sindhu said. “In big stadiums, shuttle control and drift makes a lot of difference.”

A lot of effort is going into simulating match situations right now in Sindhu’s training. The reason is simple—the pandemic led to a heavy disruption of the global badminton calendar, leaving most players without tournaments to play ahead of the Olympics.

PV Sindhu with her dog Rio. (HT photo)

Sindhu and her coach Park, for example, have a pool of male shuttlers who come in to play against Sindhu in gruelling training formats like three-against-one (Sindhu being the one), or three full matches played one after the other, without a break, against three different opponents. One is to improve reaction times, the other to drill in endurance.

On other days, the five-time world championship medallist has multi-shuttle sessions—a constant barrage of shuttles to enhance reaction time and extend reach on court.

The coach also trains Sindhu’s opponents to try and make them play in the style of the players Sindhu will face at the Olympics.

“My coach creates these situations. For example, he tells me (world No.1) Tai Tzu Ying is going to play like this or that. We create game-like situations,” Sindhu said. “I’ve been working on everything, basically. At the Olympics, you can’t lack in anything, you have to be 100% in everything. Everybody is going to be prepared so I am making sure that I am fine in every aspect. I have been working on strokes, skill, endurance and consistency.”

Her training regimen and the creation of “match situations” in practice has given her, Sindhu said, the confidence to go into the Olympics in July-August without having played a tournament since March.

This does not hold true for all badminton players who will be in Tokyo—many nations, unlike India, managed to hold domestic tournaments even as international ones were cancelled everywhere.

“As soon as I came back (from All England in March), we were preparing for India Open, Malaysia Open and Singapore Open. Unfortunately, they were cancelled. We were hoping that tournaments will happen. It’s sad that we didn’t get the opportunity to play matches before Olympics but every country wants their own safety. Life comes first,” Sindhu said.

Despite the cancellations and postponements, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) did organise a few tournaments in a bio-bubble earlier in the year. Sindhu’s return to the circuit in January—after an eight-month gap—did not go as planned. The world No.7 had a dismal 3-4 win-loss ratio in the three tournaments in Bangkok in January but came back strongly to reach the Swiss Open final and the All England semi-final in March before the calendar was halted yet again.

“Obviously Thailand didn’t go well but I was returning after a long gap,” Sindhu said. “But I rectified my mistakes, went into Swiss Open and All England, which went really well and I made solid progress in my game. I was happy with that.”

Sindhu will be the only Indian medallist from Rio 2016 to compete in Tokyo after wrestler Sakshi Malik, who won bronze in women’s freestyle 58kg, failed to qualify for the Games. That itself increases expectations on the shoulders of the 25-year-old, who five years ago became the first female Indian to win a silver at the quadrennial Games.

“I don’t have any pressure (now) but there might be (later) as expectations will be there. My second Olympics is going to be different because everybody’s going to look up to me. Since I got the medal in my first Olympics everybody is expecting a lot more. A lot of people want me to get that medal,” Sindhu said. “But for me, I just have to work hard, go and play my game, give 100%, take one match at a time. I don’t want to think about the future, just take one step at a time.”

What about her rivals? With reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin pulling out of Tokyo with an injury, is Tai Tzu the biggest obstacle standing in Sindhu’s way?

“In women’s singles, the top-10 are of the same standard be it Tai Tzu, Ratchanok (Intanon), Chen Yu Fei, (Nozomi) Okuhara, Carolina, (Akane) Yamaguchi, An Seyoung or Pornpawee (Chochuwong),” Sindhu said. “I cannot even take one match easily and everybody is going to be at their 100%. Plus, everybody has their own set of skills. But now, no one will know each other’s game because we haven’t played for three-and-a-half months. Everybody’s game is unknown. We’ll have to watch out for everyone and shouldn’t go with one strategy because everybody’s going to improve their game, learn new skills and techniques. We have to be ready and prepared for everything.”