The only Indian woman to win two Olympic medals, P.V. Sindhu feels that this is not the end as the star shuttler now eyes 2024 Olympics to be held at Paris.
After arriving in her hometown on Wednesday to a hero’s welcome following the bronze medal win at Tokyo Olympics, she made it clear that she is hungry for more.
“It will not stop with this. There will be many more successes going forward. Definitely, I will play in Paris and will do my best,” said the 26-year-old who won two consecutive Olympic medals and is the reigning world champion.
Addressing a press conference along with her Korean coach Park Tae-sang, physical trainer Srikanth Varma and directors of Suchitra Badminton Academy, she said that while winning the silver medal at Rio Olympics ago changed her life, it was important to keep the momentum going over last five years.
Sindhu said she could get the medal because all of them worked hard. “We worked very hard. We knew that only hard work and sacrifices can get us there. All of us had the dream of a medal at Tokyo. We knew the value of the medal,” she said.
On the rigorous training before Olympics, she said they all knew the importance of physical fitness. She recalled that even the recovery session was done carefully.
Varma was all praise for Sindhu for bearing with the torturous training she had to go through. “I worked with other athletes, but Sindhu is tremendous,” he said
He recalled that Sindhu never took a break from the training even for a single day.
The Korean coach said he was very happy as for him this was first Olympic medal as coach. “I will never forget this moment in my life,” he said.
He said despite the pandemic situation, Sindhu remained focused and worked hard with patience and this finally paid off. He exuded confidence that the star shuttler will win a medal in next Olympics too.
Suchitra Academy head coach and director Pradeep Raju said they had the dream of achieving multiple medals at Olympics. He said Sindhu was highly motivated and the coach was equally passionate about success.
He said they received all help from Telangana sports authorities as Gachibowli stadium was made available for training. The stadium was selected because it was similar to what they had in Tokyo.
The authorities switched on the AC and created the same match situation to enable her to practice. At least 20 different players from the Academy sparred with Sindhu on rotation.
“Before Mission Paris 2024, we want to see her become world number one. Our dream is to see her play next Olympics as number one seed,” he said.
