Sindhu likely to skip India GP Gold

New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) Rising Indian badminton star P.V. Sindhu might give the India Grand Prix Gold — to be held in Lucknow in January — a miss due to a packed schedule.

Sindhu has the Korea Open Super Series (Jan 7-12) lined up with Malaysia Open Super Series Premier (Jan 14-19) and the India Grand Prix Gold (Jan 21-26). The World Championship bronze medallist said that she will be playing one of the latter two tournaments.

“As the Malaysia Open and India Grand Prix Gold are back to back, I will be playing one of them. The calendar is packed anyway. The final decision will be taken by coach (Pullela Gopichand) in due course of time,” Sindhu told IANS here Tuesday.

Given that the Kuala Lumpur tournament is a Tier II event, a higher category than the one in Lucknow which is a Tier III tourney, the logical answer will be that she will skip the latter, where she finished runners-up the last time around.

After a brilliant 2013 when she became the first Indian female singles player to win a World Championship medal, two Grand Prix Gold titles in Malaysia and Macau, reaching the top-10 in the world and also being conferred the Arjuna Award, the 18-year-old has set different targets for next year.

“The Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are up next year. I will focus on doing the best for my country at these two events and try and win a medal. Otherwise, the Super Series tournaments will be the focus. I don’t have any aim rankings wise as they are not that important,” said the Hyderabadi, who is here to participate in the ongoing Senior National Badminton Championships.