In 2014, Saina Nehwal stunned the badminton world by making a bold move of shifting base from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. The Olympic medallist 'split' with childhood coach Pullela Gopichand and moved to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) to train under U Vimal Kumar.
Criticised initially, the move yielded results which defined the 33-year-old's career. Under Vimal, Saina became a world No.1 - the only Indian female yet, reached the All England Open final and won two World Championship medals (silver and bronze).
Exactly nine years later, compatriot PV Sindhu has made a similar move. She will now train under the great Padukone in the hope of resurrecting her career even as she aims for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic medal.
Sindhu enjoyed a successful 2022 when she won an Asian Championships bronze, the Swiss Open and Singapore Open titles before claiming the Commonwealth Games gold when she suffered a stress fracture in her left foot that put her out of action for six months. The return to the circuit has seen her play well below par, suffering exits in the first two rounds of tournaments in 10 of the first 15 tournaments this year. Her ranking too dropped to world No.17 the lowest in seven years. The two-time Olympic medallist was just not being able to keep pace with the best in the business.
With results not going her way, the former world champion parted with coach Park Tae Sang in February and started working with Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Vidhi Chaudhary before finally hiring former All England champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim as her coach in July.
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