India’s P.V. Sindhu in action against China’s Wang Zhiyi during the women’s singles final match of Malaysian Masters at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil on Sunday. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: Expect Indian women’s singles shuttler P. V. Sindhu to have a few tricks up her sleeve in the Paris Olympics.
Sindhu has been working with former great Prakash Padukone on honing her deceptive shots to give her an edge over her opponents.
Prakash believes the 2019 world champion’s hard work in training could pay off in her quest to win her third medal in the Olympics.
“She’s always, always had the right strokes. So, using deception and trying to score points, that’s where I have been focusing on,” Prakash told Hindustan Times.
“I’m trying to get her to add a little more trickery in her game in the past six weeks where I had more time to work with her.”
Sindhu captured silver and bronze in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2021 Tokyo Games respectively.
Prakash is backing her to contend for a medal again despite her struggles to reach similar heights since suffering a stress fracture in her right leg in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
“It is how you handle pressure and how you peak. Her whole focus has been on trying to peak in this one week,” said Prakash.
“I think overall, I’m happy with the way she has progressed. Of course, nobody can guarantee a medal, but I can confidently say that she’ll definitely be one of the contenders.”
The world No. 13 showed signs of getting back to her best when she reached her first final of the year at the Malaysian Masters in May before finishing runners-up and will be keen to bring that form into the Olympics.
Sindhu will open her campaign in Group M tomorrow against Maldives’ Fathimath Nabaaha Razzaq and should have no problems reaching the round of 16 where she will likely face her first real test against China’s world No. 8 He Bingjiao.
If the 29-year-old manages to beat Bingjiao, she could come up against the latter’s teammate and defending champion Chen Yufei in the quarter-finals.
