Opinion Sindhu’s triumph
Through her titanic battles, she’s taking fans on a dizzy ride of the highest quality badminton
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Three weeks after losing a one-for-the-ages game in the World Championships final to Nozomi Okuhara, P.V. Sindhu squared the ledger in the title clash of the Korean Open Super Series. It proved not only her prowess with the badminton racquet, but also her strength of mind that she could come out at the right end of another titanic struggle. In going 4-4 in her career, head-to-head, she ensured the World Championship result didn’t turn into a bugbear for her.
But there is more to Sindhu’s triumph in Seoul than just pure skill and fighting spirit. At the highest level, a player has to keep learning from setbacks to get better. From compelling Okuhara to play on her terms of pace and power, to resisting the urge to manically go hard at the second set and instead conserving her energies for the decider, Sindhu proved to be a quick learner.
The 22-year-old’s consistency in the big events is one of her biggest improvements of late. She won a medal at her first Olympics, soaked in home pressure to win the India Open title at Delhi, bagged her third World Championships podium at Glasgow and showed the ability to settle scores at Seoul. She won two of them and lost the other two by the slenderest of margins. It shows that she will be there or thereabouts when the biggest titles in badminton will be decided. She is already known for her dominance over Chinese shuttlers.
But in not allowing any opponent to become a consistent source of trouble, Sindhu is ensuring that she’s fighting for every big honour. Through her titanic battles, she’s taking Indians and global fans on a dizzy ride of the highest quality badminton — just look at the ecstatic images of spectators, in Rio, Glasgow, Seoul. While leading the golden age of Indian badminton, Sindhu is also proud participant of some of the most iconic face-offs of international badminton’s women’s singles.
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