Media shouldn’t put pressure on PV Sindhu by focusing on her defeats, says Prakash Padukone
Former Indian shuttler Prakash Padukone has urged the media not to pressurize PV Sindhu by focusing solely on her defeats calling her India’s biggest medal hope in the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia. Padukone also insisted that Sindhu doesn’t have any mental blockage in major finals.
Sindhu's tryst with finals continued last week when she went down against Spain's Carolina Marin in the BWF World Championship final, which was her career's third major final defeat. Prior to that, she had lost the World Championships final to Nozomi Okuhara last year, and the 2016 Rio Olympics final to Marin. She also finished second in the Superseries Finals in Dubai last year.
However, amidst the scathing criticism that she has received from the media for her failure at the summit clashes, she got a strong supporter in the former All England Champion, Prakash Padukone. The badminton legend has backed 23-year-old Sindhu to win the World Championship in the near future after two successive silver medal performances. He also rubbished the popular opinion claiming that Sindhu doesn’t have a mental blockage in major finals.
“It is commendable that she reached the finals once again, so I want to congratulate her on that. She defeated two Japanese players (Okuhara and Yamaguchi) against whom she normally loses. Unfortunately, she could not win the title but I will back her to win the same in the near future. I do not think that she has a mental blockage in major finals,” said Padukone on the sidelines of PNB Metlife Junior Badminton Championship.
Padukone further urged the media not to put too much pressure on Sindhu by focusing only on her defeats and rather wanted people to support her. He felt that Sindhu was India’s biggest medal hope in the upcoming Asian Games, with the likes of Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal low in form.
“We should not put too much pressure on her (Sindhu) when she is doing well. She is world number three and probably India’s biggest hope to win a medal in the Asian Games. The focus should be on how we can make her win rather than the reason behind her defeats,” he added.
The former World cup winner also stated that national coach Pullela Gopichand, who has produced world-class players like Sindhu, Nehwal, and Srikanth, has to be given some assistance as it is difficult to focus on multiple players at the same time.
“Gopi is doing a good job but I feel he needs someone to assist him. It is difficult for a coach to take care of so many players. They are world-class players who need special attention,” Padukone stated.
Padukone further stated that the preparation phase will be difficult for the players considering a 13-day gap between the World Championship and the Asian Games. He felt that while the Asiad challenge would be a difficult one for the players, it won't be an impossible one.
“The Asian Games is so close to the World Championship. It will be difficult for the players to manage the workload
Speaking about India’s growth in the singles event, Padukone further said that the Indians are at par with other badminton giants (China and Japan) but need to click at the right time.
“They (Indian badminton players) have already conquered the Asian wall and are