PV Sindhu: Only Indian woman athlete to win two Olympic medals in last 5 years

In the last five years, PV Sindhu has worked with three different foreign coaches including Indonesia’s Mulyo Handoyo, Korea’s Kim Ji Hyun and Park Tae-sang.

NEW DELHI — Ace shuttler PV Sindhu created history on August 01 by engraving her name among the all-time greats after winning badminton’s women’s singles bronze medal at Tokyo Olympics, 2021.

With the victory, Sindhu became the only Indian woman athlete to win two Olympic medals back-to-back as she had won a silver medal at Rio de Janeiro five years back.

Sindhu was defeated by Tai Tzu Ying just a day before the bronze medal match in the semi-finals which had left her heartbroken. In an interview, she said that her coach Park Tae-sang’s encouragement helped her recover from the semi-final loss.

“After semis, I was really sad. I was in tears but my coach said it is not over yet. There were mixed emotions, if I should be sad or happy but Park told one thing. He said there is a lot of difference between a fourth position and a bronze and that really hit me,” she said.

In the last five years, Sindhu has worked with three different foreign coaches including Indonesia’s Mulyo Handoyo, Korea’s Kim Ji Hyun and Park Tae-sang.

“I learnt a lot from each coach. It is good to learn new skills and utilise them whenever needed. They all were different, with different mindsets. I’m happy I have with me the knowledge that they taught me,” she said.

Sindhu’s victory was because of her hard work and resilience to win and make her country proud.

In an exclusive interview with WION’s Digvijay Singh Deo, she said, “It’s very important that you prepare. We had enough time to learn new skills. I utilized pandemic in a very good way. It worked up. I have done well at the Tokyo Olympics.”