'Need to start from scratch to get up there'

PV SINDHU - ASIAN GAMES SILVER MEDALLIST

- Rutvick Mehta

Back from a quick trip to the US, PV Sindhu shares her conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook when they met during a launch event last week. "He loves playing badminton, and he loves India too. I told him: Why don't you come, we'll play! He said, definitely, I will," Sindhu says with a chuckle.

In a grim year riddled with early losses and only a final and two semi-finals, Sindhu has kept smiling. 

From consistently scripting history as a two-time Olympic medallist and world champion to enduring an up-and-down phase either side of an ankle injury that sidelined her after the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold, Sindhu hasn't forgotten the common factor in both: the only way up is to get down to working harder.

In this chat with HT, India’s most decorated shuttler talks about the work she’s putting in to regain her best touch, the hunger to do that, overcoming the injury phase and allowing her emotions to take over at times. Excerpts:

The Asian Games is up next, and you have a feel for such big tournaments. How are the preparations with Muhammad Hafiz Hashim and your team?

It’s going pretty well. I’ve had some good practice sessions; been going a bit also to Bengaluru on and off (to train at the Padukone Academy). That’s been going well. The Asian Games, a lot will depend on the draw. But practice-wise, things are looking good.

How much work are you putting in at training now, in a period where, as you said, you’re trying really hard?