P.V. Sindhu - Gearing Up For Tokyo

Heading into the Olympics, P.V. Sindhu is working harder than ever on court; offit, she is trying to keep interpersonal friction at bay

- Neeru Bhatia

When P.V. Sindhu won an Olympic silver five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, all she wanted as a gift from her parents was a puppy. They bought her a labrador, and she named it, quite aptly, Rio.

As the puppy grew, so did India’s expectations of Sindhu. She struck silver at the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games, and became world champion, a title she desperately wanted, in Basel, Switzerland, in 2019.

Now 25, India’s gold medal hopeful is wiser and more experienced. As she prepares for a second crack at an Olympic gold in July, Sindhu is training harder than ever. She wakes up at dawn, trains with Korean coach Park Tae Sang in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, and then does fitness training at the Suchitra Academy there. Lunch is at home, with some much-needed rest. Evening is for more training, followed by family time and playtime with Rio, before going to bed.

Early this year, in a major move, Sindhu moved out of the Pullela Gopichand Academy; she now trains at the nearby Gachibowli indoor stadium, away from the core group of shuttlers she grew up with. It has a large competition hall, similar to the one she will play in in Tokyo, and it would be easier to simulate those conditions.

Also, she no longer trains with chief coach Gopichand. The former All-England Open champion had laid the foundation of her game.

Though Park and Gopichand work in tandem, the familiar sight of the latter sitting near the court during Sindhu’s matches is a thing of the past. Park travels with Sindhu for competitions, accompanied by a physiotherapist and trainer under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).