Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu announced recently that former shuttler, Prakash Padukone will be her mentor ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu announced recently that former shuttler, Prakash Padukone will be her mentor ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics. This new journey comes at the back of the aim for a third Olympic medal and hopefully a golden one. Sindhu already had a week-long training routine with Padukone before the Asian Games. Now, before the ultimate litmus test, Sindhu once again turns her prying eyes towars her mentor.
“Prakash sir is assuming the role of the mentor in my setup. I started training with him at the end of August, and it’s been uphill ever since,” as quoted by the former world champion. Sindhu went on to further add, ” he’s more than a mentor; he’s my guide, my guru, and, above all, a true friend.”
PV Sindhu, a former world champion, has been struggling with injuries since winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games last year. Though PV Sindhu played in over 15 BWF tournaments in 2023, the injuries marred her progress and she was unable to win a single BWF title this year. Sindhu also roped in Hafez Hashim in place of Park Tae-Sang as her coach earlier this year to battle the slump in form. Sindhu had been training on and off with Hafiz Hashim at Hyderabad’s Suchitra Badminton Academy. However, the five-time world championships medallist will make Bengaluru an extended training base in the run-up to the Paris Olympics.
As a player, Padukone had found astronomical success in his international career. Prakash was an All-England champion as well as a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist. Subsequently, he became the first Indian to become the BWF World no. 1. Moreover, he was considered one of the leading singles players in the world in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Although Padukone has been a fairly successful badminton player, he has a tough task ahead of himself. The first challenge for Prakash Padukone will be to get PV Sindhu back in full fitness. At the same time, he has to preserve Sindhu’s form which she displayed at the Arctic Open and the Denmark Open. PV Sindhu is currently under protected ranking following a knee injury she suffered at the French Open in October. The injury came as a major setback to Sindhu, who was gradually regaining her form after a poor start to the 2023 badminton season. Although Sindhu’s Olympic hopes are firmly in place, she will need to deliver a very high quality performance to turn her silver into gold this time.
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