P.V. Sindhu: Beyond statistics, fighting spirit prevails!

It was a wonderful quarter final performance by P.V. Sindhu in her match at the Siri Fort Indoor badminton Complex today in the India Open Super series tournament. She is committed, hardworking and a dedicated player. Her judgement is superb and reflexes are sharp. She is really a great talent.

P.V. Sindhu, a bright and wonderful young girl from Hyderabad, is a new star in the galaxy of Indian badminton and today she has shown her mettle. It appears that she is definitely the preference of coach Gopichand Pulella, as she has the skill to improvise not only in between those never ending rallies, but through her accurately placed returns. Her strength definitely includes super smash shots/flicks and soft shots neatly carried out. More importantly, despite being a new entrant, she does not lose focus and stays concentrated. I feel that she tries to follow the strategy, that is explained to her, very well.

She is tall so she covers the whole court in a fairly easy manner. She needs to work on her stamina, as when I saw her playing last year in another tournament, she looked very tired during the third game. I believe that with time and exposure, she will definitely overcome this obstacle gradually. Meanwhile in today’s match, she displayed consistency when she got the last 6 points in the 2nd game consecutively to win the match.

Thus, this is a very positive factor that she tackles the pressure comfortably. She has already proved her worth by winning the Badminton Asia youth tournament (previously known as under-19) and it is worthwhile to mention that today she clearly outplayed Hoshimoto, who had defeated Saina Nehwal this week itself, with the score of 13-21, 21-12, 22 -20.

The Japanese was a tough competitor, who was playing well all around the court today; however Sindhu was able to counter attack very well.

Sindhu’s hardwork was visible in her last match as well when she defeated Yao-Xue (Chinese Player) in a close encounter of 17-21, 21-18, 21-14.

It is too early to predict anything but then it’s a big event worth 200,000 dollars, so winning would be a massive achievement. But the way P.V. Sindhu has shown a fighting spirit and commendable temper, hopefully she is going to make a mark in the near future. She is only 17 after all.