Indian badminton has been enjoying a golden period in recent years; with Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu being the torchbearers of this golden era. Together, these two women have in a way, put Indian badminton on the world map for the first time since the days of Pullela Gopichand. And not surprisingly, Gopichand has played an integral part in the success of both women.
However, Gopichand is not the only similarity between the two women.
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Birds of a Feather
Apart from being compatriots, the biggest similarity that Saina and Sindhu share is that they represent the attitude of today’s Indian youth; something which justifies their status’ as youth icons in their country; add to this the strong desire to win that characterizes both of them.
However, these similarities aside, both Saina and Sindhu can be seen as having adopted contrasting approaches to satisfy their desire to be the best. While Saina relies more on her physical prowess and work ethic on court; Sindhu makes the best use of her height advantage and her stroke play.
What’s more? Both these women can be seen as having radically different personalities.
The subtle differences
Saina, the senior of the two has seemingly been around forever and is known for her resilience and mental toughness on court; Sindhu, on the other hand, has up until now, been seen as nothing more than a prodigy and as Saina’s understudy.
Up until the Olympics, Sindhu’s game was best known for being consistently inconsistent. On one day, Sindhu was capable of beating a much higher ranked opponent and then, going down to a relatively lower ranked opponent, in the very next encounter. In among all this, however, what was often forgotten a bit too easily was Sindhu’s talent and potential; especially compared to a senior pro like Saina.
In fact, as far as talent is concerned, Saina herself has acknowledged that she is not as gifted as compared to some of her other counterparts on the women’s singles circuit; though whether or not this list included Sindhu can only be speculated.
Also read: PV Sindhu vs Saina Nehwal: Who is the queen of Indian badminton?
Sindhu’s biggest gift as compared to most women on the singles circuit, let alone Saina, has to be her height. The 21-year-old is significantly taller than most of her counterparts. And she uses her height to good advantage, to take the shuttle early and to dictate the pace of the rally in most cases.
Add to this, Sindhu’s agility allows her to explore and cover every inch of the court. In fact, Sindhu’s agility is often considered to be a rarity for an athlete of her physical stature. Sindhu also possesses a fearsome offensive game which she uses to take the game to her opponent right from the off.
The value of experience
Saina, on the other hand, has been known engage her opponent in long rallies and wear them down in the process, before pouncing on the first opportunity to finish off the rally. However, Saina is also said to possess a more complete game than Sindhu. And this has a lot to do with the fact that Sindhu’s defensive game isn’t as renowned as her offensive one. In fact, Sindhu’s defensive game is what said to have caused her to lose games from winning positions.
And as much as this could be seen as a chink in Sindhu’s defensive armor; this probably also had a lot to do with Saina being a lot more experienced and well-versed with handling the big stage. Whatever be the case, Sindhu’s defensive frailties had to be ironed out if she was to realize her true potential of being a world beater.
And rightly so, Gopichand and Sindhu set about improving Sindhu’s defence along with her mental strength; whilst not compromising on her aggression. Moreover, Sindhu needed to find a way to beat the world’s top players on a consistent basis. And once this was done, Sindhu needed to prove that she had what it took to do this on the biggest stage, with the highest stakes.
The coming of age
And there’s no bigger stage to prove one’s credentials to the world than the Olympics. Going into Rio 2016, however, Sindhu was considered to be a dark horse in terms of being a medal prospect for her country; with much of the burden of expectation falling on Saina, given her bronze medal performance in London 4 years earlier.
And perhaps, the lack of expectations on Sindhu worked in her favour; as she went on to create history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in Olympic badminton. Saina’s campaign, on the other hand, ended prematurely with a shock exit in the group stages. Once she exited, however, Sindhu took centre stage and did remarkably well to shoulder the expectations of her nation.
Also read: PV Sindhu's Olympic final registered more viewers than ICC T20 World Cup semi-final
What was even more satisfying was the manner in which she won her games in the run-up to the final. And though she went down in the final, Sindhu has finally managed to step out of Saina’s shadow and did so by out- performing her compatriot on the biggest stage of them all. Sindhu may not have won the coveted medal, but she sure has won an eternal place in the hearts of a billion people. Most importantly, PV Sindhu has finally come of age.
