Evidently relieved after snapping a run of near-misses through the year, PV Sindhu is hopeful her ability to win big titles will not be questioned any longer after a historic triumph at the BWF World Tour Finals at Guangzhou, China on Sunday, 16 December.
Having lost seven successive summit clashes in all tournaments – and each of her six finals at major events – the Olympic silver medallist finally ended her finals blues with a 21-19, 21-17 win over Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara to lift the prestigious season-ending trophy.
“I feel really happy. I have no words because it is my first win this year after coming and losing in the finals, so it was memorable. The year has ended on a beautiful note.”PV Sindhu
India’s star shuttler – runner-up at the World Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in 2018, in addition to her second-placed finish at the 2016 Rio Olympics – hopes the year-end prize will bring an end to the most frequently-asked question to her.
“Somewhere every time people have been asking me the same question. I hope the question won’t again come to me, asking why all the time coming to the finals I lose. I think I can say now that I won a gold and I am really very proud.”PV Sindhu
Sindhu, only recently, had answered the same question for The Quint, expressing optimism for the future ahead of her departure to China for the Tour Finals.
Her mentor and India chief coach Pullela Gopichand, too, stressed on the importance of Sindhu crossing the final hurdle.
“There has been a lot of talk of her losing the finals and I think that at least, not for anybody else but for Sindhu’s mind, I think it is important. People have been waiting for it and it is great to have this win at the end of the year.”Pullela Gopichand, Chief Coach, Indian Badminton
Sindhu’s campaign at Guangzhou was near-flawless. The 23-year-old emerged out of a tough Group A with a 100 percent record, in the process beating the world’s top-two ranked players in Tai Tzu Ying and Akane Yamaguchi.
“The last to last year I lost in semifinal and last year I finished runners up. This time I am the winner, so it is a beautiful tournament for me as I won all matches in the league stages and also the semifinals and finals,” Sindhu remarked.
“Whenever I play against Okuhara or Yamaguchi I never think it would be easy. I know every time it would be tough. Today also the rallies were 30-40 strokes, but I gave my 100 percent and I won. Okuhara also played very well,” she added.
Coach Gopichand Targets All England Glory
In Gopichand, Sindhu possesses a coach never willing to rest on a laurel; Indian badminton’s mentor supreme has already set his sights on ending an 18-year wait for an Indian to be crowned champion at the All England Championships.
Gopichand remains the last Indian to have won the coveted trophy, having lifted in 2001 – 21 years after the legendary Prakash Padukone’s crowning glory in 1980.
“For us the 2020 would be a big one, and then 2022, so basically the Commonwealth, Asian Games and the Olympics are the big event(s) but having said that the All England will be the target next year.”
“It has been quite a while since we have won the All England Championship. It will be almost 20 years since Prakash sir won and then I won the Championship so I hope this time it doesn’t take so long.”Pullela Gopichand, Chief Coach, Indian Badminton
Sindhu herself kept a more grounded sight of the near future, maintaining that qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would hold high priority.
“Next year it will be Olympic qualification year and we have to keep ourself fit and strategies which tournaments to play and we will have Malaysia and Indonesia coming up next year.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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