PV Sindhu Won't Return To Pullela Gopichand's Badminton Academy Post Tokyo Olympics

Looks like the split in between India’s top woman's shuttler Pusarla Venkata Sindhu and chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand is complete. (More Sports News)

In a recent interview to Outlook, Sindhu said that South Korean coach Park Tae Sang was her coach for more than a year and she will not miss Gopichand at the Tokyo Olympics in July-August. (For full interview: CLICK HERE)

When Sindhu finished with the silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016, Gopichand was her coach. Many see the former All-England champion as her chief mentor, but Sindhu does not agree.   

READ: Second-best Foreign Coaches Will Make Us Second Best - Gopichand

On Thursday, during a virtual interaction with the media, PV Sindhu made it clear that Gachibowli Stadium will continue to be her base training camp even after the Tokyo Olympics and she has no plans to move back to the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy where most of India's top player train.

“See, when we have a facility of international standard why not use that. If you want to compete against the best players you have to ensure that everything is perfect in training and build up to those events.

"Wherever we go out to play any major event we do so in bigger stadiums. There are a lot of facilities in Gachibowli where I’m training now.
"It is a good international stadium and I’m making sure I get used to those big stadiums before going to Tokyo,” Sindhu explained, adding that the 'AC draft' will be akin to what she will experience in Tokyo.

PV Sindhu is the only Indian woman singles player to qualify for Tokyo 2020. With the top 16 in the world making the cut in every category, players like Saina Nehwal (women's singles) and Kidambi Srikanth (men's singles) have missed the Tokyo bus.

Sindhu reiterated that she is very happy with her Korean coach Park, who replaced immediately after Kim Ji Hyun quit in September 2019. 

“Park’s personal attention has helped a lot. He is working on my techniques and skills. We are improving every day. I’m very thankful he’s motivating me all the time.

"As a coach, he knows what is going on in my head. He has helped me a lot in improving mentally and physically. Experience-wise also I’ve improved a lot,” said the 25-year-old PV Sindhu.

Even though Rio 2016 champion Carolina Marin will miss the Tokyo Olympics due to a knee injury, the seventh ranked player in the world, Sindhu said: "It doesn't makes her task easy."

"There are a lot of good players in the circuit, from Tai Tzu-Ying to Ratchanok Intanon. It’s unfortunate that Carolina won’t be a part of the Games. But, I feel everybody will give their 100 per cent."