When PV Sindhu lost the epic battle against Nozomi Okuhara in the 2017 BWF World Championships final in Glasgow, chief national coach Pullela Gopichand was asked how he will react to the lost opportunity?
The 2001 All England champion explained how heartbreaking losses and disappointments are part of a player’s journey. “I will only regret this loss if she doesn’t get another chance to win this title,” he said.
Sindhu not only reached the final in the subsequent two years but became the first Indian shuttler to be crowned world champion in 2019, hammering the same Japanese opponent in the final.
The 2017 loss is now remembered for Sindhu’s fighting spirit, ability to take disappointments in her stride and bounce back for bigger glory. Contrast this with Tuesday’s showdown between the battle-hardened veterans in the second round of the Copenhagen World Championships.
Both Sindhu and Okuhara had been struggling for form in the build-up and the Indian, who has played a final and two semi-finals this season, was the favourite given her opponent’s struggles with injuries. But what unfolded was a contest between one motivated to turn the tide and the other who lacked the stomach for a fight once things started going downhill.
In sports, a player losing a game from 9-0 up isn’t a catastrophe. But it was the absence of Plan B once Okuhara started her comeback in the second game that would have worried Sindhu’s well-wishers.
Sindhu herself acknowledged the problem. “I’ve been losing in the early rounds. But I shouldn’t lose hope, and I should believe in myself. I know it’s really sad. I feel bad, I’ve been working hard, but nothing’s working out. But it’s important that I go back and work on my skills mentally and physically and come back stronger,” she was quoted as saying by BWF.
The question is how she plans to do that with the Paris Olympics just under a year away.
Sindhu was never known for her title-winning consistency on the BWF circuit, though South Korean coach Park Tae-sang tried to turn her into a winning machine on the Tour by making her adopt a more defensive approach. It didn’t really work and they ultimately split.
When Sindhu began working with Park ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, she was driven by the hunger to win another Olympic medal. But it was clear by the time she took a long break following the Commonwealth Games victory to recuperate from an injury that she was mentally and emotionally spent.
It is quite clear over the last eight months that Sindhu is in good, if not best, physical shape and it is the emotional part that she needs to find a way to bring together.
In Sindhu’s past success in major events, coaches have played a significant role. If Gopichand took control of her life on and off the court before 2016 Rio Olympics by taking away even her phone and made her stand and cry till she shouted her lungs out in training, Indonesian Mulyo Handoyo worked on her hand speed and physical approach. South Korean Kim Ji-hyun made her watch many videos to understand tactical play. She even made Sindhu dance to Bollywood numbers ahead of the 2019 World Championships final against Okuhara to charge her up.
The easiest solution most people will offer to Sindhu is to go train with Gopichand till the Olympics as he knows which buttons to push for her to give her best. It’s easier said than done because we don’t know whether they will be able to trust each other blindly like before.
However, time has come for her to take some tough calls and build a team that can push and motivate her. In India or elsewhere, it’s natural that celebrities and performers attract sycophants. But the best players in the world know exactly what they want and do not shy away from taking tough calls when facing a slump, or when they foresee a problem in the near future.
When you need to find motivation to get back to your best, you need someone who can push you. At 28, Sindhu is experienced enough to know what kind of a person she wants in her team.
After parting ways with Park, she worked with Vidhi Chaudhary before zeroing in on Mohammad Hafiz Hashim as coach. The former All England champion has already spoken about making her play a more attacking brand of badminton, but that change hasn’t been visible. Considering that Hafiz is contracted to the Suchitra Academy as well, one wonders how much control over Sindhu’s overall training and approach he is exerting. If he has to change Sindhu’s fortunes, he or someone will need to have full authority to decide how to go about preparing for Paris.
Sindhu will do well to take a leaf out of Saina Nehwal’s book and take control of her future by shutting out the noises around her, doing what she feels is right.
It’s the fire in the belly that seems to have been doused a little. Sindhu needs to seek out the catalyst to rekindle that before it’s too late.
