Someone should have told PV Sindhu that her goal in life should be gold at the Olympics and not settle for silver and bronze resting on her laurels. Someone should have also told Sindhu that even if she dreams of the said Paris gold, her fitness was far from ideal six months ago.
Prakash Padukone did not mince words.
If he were to start traveling with a player again after 25 years, he needed that player to meet his standards of excellence.
“Sir Prakash told Sindhu (and Lakshya Sen) in no uncertain terms that he required them to take responsibility for their careers. He told them that they are privileged to have a good team, but they shouldn’t expect everyone to do things for them. Sindhu and Lakshya were never at their best. But now they are in incredible form,” informed Viren Raskina, who while heading the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) projects assembled Sindhu’s team in Bangalore.
It was a difficult conversation with Sindhu, informed Rasquinha, after she asked Padukone to be courtside. “Her fitness was far below Sir Prakash’s standards, though to a layperson she might have looked fit. He told her: “I will agree to work with you if you get well and pass all the sports science tests,” Raskinha recalled.
Data-driven results
Sindhu’s game has traditionally been built around fitness and her coach during her first Olympics, Pullela Gopichand, always insisted on micromanaging her strength and endurance performance as she won her first medals at the World Championships and the Rio Games. But Padukone is simply laying down the rules – every claim will be backed up with data. “And we have stunning results. Sindhu returned to her bodyweight from 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, like when she won silver,” informed Rasquinha. “She is now at her ideal weight, but needed work on her body fat percentage, peak power and muscle mass.”
After completely revamping her team, she got a new nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach in Bangalore. “Sindhu remains so humble despite the two (Olympic) medals and believes in her team. And the data doesn’t lie. We needed her to be able to push longer and play 3 sets,” says Rasquinha.
That she has improved is not in doubt – managing to make a nick puts away An Se Young, Chen Yufei and Carolina Marin. But victories against elite names are still not within striking distance, with repeated instances of running out of steam in the third set, although she gave Youfei a scare right at the French Open.
Padukone had said at the start of their association that being able to beat Tai Tzu Ying, Se Young and Yufei would be the real deal. Still, there is now more variety to her game and an attacking drive that was missing while her career languished under defensive-minded Korean coach Park Tae Sang for two years.
At 28, no one said it would be easy. But Padukone would only be roused from her contented semi-retirement if Sindhu set her sights on the improbable top perch.
Practical coaching
Saina Nehwal has reached the All England and World Championships finals since moving to Bangalore, and much is expected of Sindhu’s move. “No, but Mr. Prakash was not involved in Saina’s tournament training. It was mostly Vimal sir. With Saina, he sat in the back and chipped in with advice. But with Sindhu, he is back on the court. It’s the first time I’ve seen so much enthusiasm and it’s on the court every day. He’s 68, but his approach is refreshingly modern,” says Raskina.
He pays close attention to ideal body weight and needs daily updates on blood tests and sports science lab tests. Known for his deceptive strokeplay and net wizardry himself, while maintaining insane levels of fitness, Padukone is under no illusion that mere racquet skills are enough. Sindhu’s aggressive game will always rely on her power and long reach, but while they have been bolstered, her shot selection has improved – incrementally. But her team thinks she is putting up a good fight for the deciders. Like a marathon runner, the training run is only 35km out of 42.195km at this point. “It will improve more, but it will come down to fitness in these two Olympic weeks,” says Rasquinha.
The results are no big shakes against the Fab Four & Furious Marin. And the knee injury was a big scare, but she’s giving herself a chance by keeping up her fitness.
“She will have to walk a fine line between peak fitness and injury prevention — when to push, when to recover,” says Rasquinha. Nehwal’s overtraining before 2016, when she was in blistering form, is a cautionary tale.
With Yufei, Tai Tzu Ying, He Bingjiao, Akane Yamaguchi and Se Young all walking the injury rope, Paris could get interesting and be decided solely by who gets there in their strongest avatar.
But Sindhu’s team is hoping for a better seeding even though she is the No. 11 seed right now. “We need to get Sindhu and Lakshya as high as possible, at least Top 8, so that they don’t get tough opponents in the beginning,” says Rasquinha. The Paris seedings dictate that they manage this tight schedule balance through the end of July.
Before Tokyo, Sindhu mimicked the court conditions in Tokyo. Simulating Paris’ opponents isn’t high on Padukone’s bucket list, though, and he doesn’t really believe in lining up sparring partners with her rivals’ styles. “Sindhu has enough male players to spar with. We had this discussion, but Mr. Prakash feels that no one can replicate the exact style. (Tai Tzu cannot be cloned in a laboratory). It can’t be an excuse. We’re not going to put too much emphasis on that,” says Rasquinha. However, Sindhu 2024 can be upgraded.
