“Hope this is the beginning of many memorable moments together” - PV Sindhu thanks coach Prakash Padukone after French Open winning start

PV Sindhu is back in action on the BWF World Tour, this time with a new face in her corner. The Indian had a tumultuous 2023, suffering injuries and changing multiple coaches. She finally seems to have struck the jackpot with the legendary Prakash Padukone.

Last year saw Sindhu make a lackluster comeback to competitions after an injury, before ending her partnership with Park Tae-sang, the South Korean who helped her to a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

From there, the Olympian trained under Malaysian legend Hafiz Hashim, before shifting to Bangalore to train under former World No. 1 and All England champion Prakash Padukone.

The end of 2023 saw PV Sindhu sidelined once again, this time with an injury to her knee. Now, the shuttler has made a triumphant return to the court, helping Indian women to their first-ever Badminton Asian Team Championships gold.

She followed it up with a winning start at the French Open this week.

Writing on X (formerly Twitter) about the difficult win over Canada's Michelle Li in her opening round on Wednesday (March 6), Sindhu expressed:

“Always happy to get a win in tricky, drifty conditions with a new team sitting behind me. And what makes it even more special is having a true legend of Indian badminton by my side, taking on a coaching assignment after 25 years just to be in my corner! Prakash sir, I hope this is just the beginning of many more memorable moments together."

PV Sindhu at the 2024 French Open

PV Sindhu had her work cut out for her in her first round at the French Open. She was playing the lower-ranked Michelle Li, who had won the duo’s last encounter in three games.

The Indian and Canadian shuttlers went the full distance this time as well, but Sindhu was able to successfully reverse the result. Coming back from a game down, the two-time Olympic medalist made her way to the Round of 16 with a scoreline of 20-22, 22-20, 21-19.

Now, the Indian will take on American Beiwan Zhang, in a bid to book herself a quarter-final berth in Paris. While Sindhu leads the head-to-head between the two 6-5, Zhang did win their last encounter in straight games in under 40 minutes.