“You can’t judge any player from the results of the last 6-7 months” - Saina Nehwal backs PV Sindhu to win a medal at Paris Olympics 2024

Indian veteran shuttler Saina Nehwal has backed PV Sindhu, who won silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics and bronze at Tokyo 2020, to win another medal at Paris Olympics 2024. She stated that she shouldn’t be judged based on her recent results.

PV Sindhu will be aiming to bag her third consecutive Olympic medal in Paris. In the lead up to the Paris 2024, Sindhu returned to action in February 2024 after recovering from knee injury. However, she looked inconsistent as she failed to create an impact against top players despite making it to the Malaysia Masters Super 500 final.

On Friday, July 5, Saina graced the inauguration ceremony of the Badminton Pros Academy in Monte South, a project from Marathon Realty and Adani Realty.

“You can’t judge any player from the results of the last 6-7 months. Sindhu has been playing well for many years and she’s got a lot of experience behind her,” Saina told PTI at the event.

“It’s just that what happens in that particular tournament will depend on when the event starts. Otherwise, the performance (of Sindhu) has been quite good. The results have been quite close during the last 6-7 months.” she added.

“It’s just that winning, losing, sometimes you don’t get the touch, but it can come (back) at any point. All the players train hard for the highest level. I’m sure Sindhu will be trying to get that medal too,” she stated.

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PV Sindhu is currently training in Saarbrücke

Of late, there have been a few concerns regarding Sindhu’s ability to finish out matches as she couldn’t steal victories after creating winning chances. Notably, in the Malaysia Masters final, she had an 11-3 lead in the decider but couldn’t grab the win.

Sindhu is currently training at Hermann-Neuberger Sportschule in Saarbrücken, Germany in the run up to the Paris Olympics 2024. After her training, she will move to Paris for the Summer Games.

Interestingly, Saina Nehwal hasn’t competed in any competition since her exit at the Singapore Open in June 2023 due to her knee injury concerns.

Saina Nehwal, who won bronze in London 2012, and PV Sindhu are the only Indian shuttlers to have won medals at the Summer Games since the sport’s inception in Barcelona in 1992.

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