Sindhu eyes comeback at Asia Team Championship

There's something missing at the ongoing India Open here. For the first time since 2007, both Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu flag-bearers of Indian badminton in the last decade-and-a-half-are not playing at the annual event.

- Sandip Sikdar

While Saina is in the twilight of her career, Sindhu has been reeling with injuries and a drastic dip in form in the last 18 months. The double Olympic medallist's last title came at the 2022 CWG. She has not just lost to almost all top players but also regularly made first round exits.

To resurrect her career with the Paris Olympics looming, the 2019 world champion has been trying out many things. First, she split with Korean coach Park Tae-sang at the start of last year before training with SAI's Vidhi Chaudhary.

She then brought on board Malaysia's former All England champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim in July 2023 as coach. With that too not working, she decided to train under Prakash Padukone.

Since Hashim, who initially travelled to Bengaluru with Sindhu before the Asian Games, belonged to Suchitra Academy in Hyderabad where Sindhu would go for physical training, a new coach was brought in around the New Year as Sindhu, like Saina, moved base to Bengaluru in the first week of January. Indonesian former India singles coach Agus Dwi Santoso has joined Sindhu's team as she begins her bid to claim a third Olympic medal.