PV Sindhu nonetheless has the starvation to succeed, and the first purpose is to assist her regain consistency, says her new coach Anup Sridhar, who has been roped in by the two-time Olympic medallist on a trial foundation following the Paris Video games. Sindhu, who returned from the French capital with no medal for the primary time in three Olympics, has been coaching below Sridhar, a Beijing Olympian, for the previous three weeks on the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad.
“I spoke with Sindhu’s workforce a couple of weeks in the past, and she or he has been coaching below me in Hyderabad because the begin of this month. We have made vital progress, and in two weeks, we’ll head to tournaments in Europe,” the 41-year-old Sridhar, who additionally briefly coached Lakshya Sen, advised PTI.
Sindhu misplaced within the pre-quarters to China’s He Bingjiao on the Paris Video games and can restart her BWF world tour season with the European leg, which incorporates the USD 420,000 Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland (October 8-13), and the USD 850,000 Denmark Open (October 15-20) in Odense.
“I am taking it week by week,” mentioned Sridhar, who has been introduced on board for the rest of the season after Indonesian Agus Dwi Santoso’s contract ended post-Paris Olympics.
“Since we’ve not dedicated to something long-term, it is laborious to plan for 2025. Nonetheless, there are a few tournaments in 2025 that Sindhu ought to purpose to peak at,” he mentioned.
“You may plan for bodily peaks, however not for kind. I’ve my eye on a couple of tournaments subsequent yr, however the fast focus is to reinforce her consistency and get her again on the rostrum — that is the massive aim.” Sindhu final gained the Singapore Open and Commonwealth Video games in 2022 and completed as runner-up on the Madrid Spain Masters in 2023 and the Malaysia Masters Tremendous 500 in Might this yr.
Reflecting on his run to date, Sridhar, an Arjuna awardee, mentioned: “I’ve spent this time understanding her scenario, and I am happy to report that she’s utterly bodily match, with no indicators of aches or pains.
“We have adopted our coaching schedule with out lacking any classes. I am engaged on serving to her unlearn sure issues whereas introducing new parts to her recreation.” Sindhu suffered a knee damage throughout the French Open in October final yr and returned to aggressive play simply 5 months earlier than the Paris Video games.
“She confronted a tricky couple of years with some good outcomes however lacked consistency throughout that interval,” Sridhar mentioned.
“In simply three weeks, I’ve seen first rate enhancements, however there’s nonetheless extra work to be achieved,” mentioned Sridhar, a 2007 Asian Championships bronze-medallist.
“If we will get her to a stage the place she’s persistently advancing previous the early rounds, no matter her draw or opponent, she’ll have a sensible likelihood of constructing a powerful comeback.” Sridhar mentioned Sindhu has completed practically every little thing in badminton.
“…but her starvation stays. She works extraordinarily laborious and is a good position mannequin for the remainder of India’s badminton gamers.” Sindhu made a sequence of teaching adjustments within the lead-up to the Paris Olympics. After clinching a bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics, her South Korean coach, Park Tae Sang, parted methods together with her in early 2023.
Following this, Sindhu traveled with SAI coach Vidhi Chaudhary for a couple of months earlier than appointing former All England champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim as her new coach.
Nonetheless, this partnership was short-lived, main Sindhu to relocate to Bengaluru to coach below Prakash Padukone. Padukone’s academy, PPBA, then employed Agus Dwi Santoso to information Sindhu via the Olympics. PTI ATK PM ATK PM PM
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