G.V. Joshi
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, (P. V. Sindhu) for short reaffirmed her status as the rising star of Indian badminton as she lifted her maiden Grand Prix Gold title in Malaysia after getting the better of Juan Gu of Singapore in a grueling final on Saturday, May 4, 2013, held at the Supka Indoor Stadium, Kuala Lumpur. The top-seeded Indian took an hour and 11 minutes to prevail over her fifth-seeded opponent, 21-17, 17-21, 21-19. Sindhu played the smash winners better than Gu. The world No.13 Indian shuttler hit as many as 17 smash winners compared to just nine by the Singaporean girl.
Before this win, she was a bronze medallist in the China Super Series, silver medallist in the Lucknow Grand Prix and a semifinalist in the India Open held in Delhi. She has been tipped by India’s chief National coach Pullela Gopi Chand (the 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion) as the next best (or may be better) in Indian women’s badminton after Saina Nehwal.
Sindhu, born on 5 July 1995, is a 180 metres tall right-handed badminton player from India. She trains at the Hyderabad’s Gopichand Badminton Academy and is supported by Olympic Gold Quest, a not-for-profit foundation that identifies and supports Indian athletes. Sindhu is also studying Commerce at St. Ann’s College (Mehdipatnam) in Hyderabad (A.P.).
Appreciating Sindhu’s success, P. Gopichand, her coach, said, “It has been a good journey for her in the last couple of years and but she needed to work harder.” Gopichand also said that future of badminton in the country looked exciting with a whole bunch of young players such as Gurusaidutt, P.Kashyap and the world Number two Saina Nehwal doing well at the international level. Sindhu broke into the top 20 (20th) in the Badminton World Federation ranking which were released on 21 September 2012. Now she is aiming to break into top 10 by the end of this year. She is currently ranked world number 13.
Unlike Saina Nehwal, daughter of badminton players, Sindhu was born to P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya – both former volleyball players. Ramana also won the Arjuna Award for his sport in 2000. Though her parents played volleyball, Sindhu chose badminton over it because she drew inspiration from the success of Pullela Gopichand, the 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion. Sindhu started playing badminton from the age of eight. She first learned the basics of the sport with the guidance of Mehboob Ali at the badminton courts of Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad. Soon afterwards she joined P. Gopichand’s Badminton Academy based at Gachibowli in Hyderabad. Her father used to drive for a distance of nearly 50 kms daily to ensure that his daughter was at Gopichand’s Academy by 4.30 A.M. every day before shifting residence closer to the Academy.
The fact that she reported on time at the coaching camps daily, was perhaps a reflection of her willingness to complete her desire to be a good badminton player with the required hard work and commitment. There she learned new techniques and sharpened her badminton skills to excel in her career.
In the words of P. Gopichand, “The most striking feature in her game is her attitude and the never-say-die spirit.” After joining Gopichand’s badminton academy, Sindhu won several titles in the junior’s category. She was a team member in India’s national team at the 2010 Uber Cup. In her father’s words,” She showed passion for badminton at a very young age. I and her mother encouraged her in her choice sport. We are happy with her progress so far and we are willing to go to any extent to help her to achieve her goal.” However, neither Sindhu nor Gopichand feel that the job is over. In Gopichand’s words, “It is a mission half-accomplished. If you want to be a force to be reckoned with at the highest level, two things are imperative – peak fitness levels and the ability to keep improving and adapting to the given conditions.”
What separates Sindhu from the rest of the players is her big heart. In her words, “I have to take both the wins and the losses in my stride and look ahead even while picking the positives from these results. One of the big lessons that I learnt from my parents is that learning is a continuous process irrespective of whether you achieve something big too early or not.”
Gopi also has some sound advice for Sindhu: “What has happened is past, and what is important is how well you keep improving in each tournament you take part in.” The game of badminton has its roots well laid in the Indian soil. A descendent of Battledore and Shuttlecocks, the game was originally christened Poona. In the 1870s, British army officers played this game in the city of Pune in India, which was then called Poona and hence the game was also termed as Poena. Getting fond of the game, the British carried the equipment to their own country as well. As of today, the game of badminton in India may lack the glamour and glitz which is mostly seen in cricket, it is still being taken up by a healthy number of youngsters across the country. In 1873- England’s Duke of Beaufort threw a historic lawn party at his ”Badminton” home. He introduced the game to his guests as a means for entertainment. The party effectively launched the popularity of game to new heights. Upper class-men began to play the game but didn’t know what to call it, so it became referred to as the “game of Badminton”.
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