Two To Tango

P.V. Sindhu’s silver is a result of years of hard work and talent, but it’s equally a measure of success of her coach, Pullela Gopichand, who has delivered two medals from two Olympics

- Tanmoy Mookherji

In India, it’s a fairly common sight to see scores of people, regardless of their religion, caste, creed or language, crowd around television screens placed in shop windows to watch the final few overs of a tight game of cricket. It has always been cricket. But it all changed on Aug. 19, when P.V. Sindhu, all of 21 years and a few days, went over to congratulate the woman who had just beaten her in the final of the badminton women’s singles competition in the Olympics. For 83 minutes, Sindhu owned India as life came to a standstill. She had just lost a hard-fought game 19–21, 21–12, 21–15.

Carolina Marin of Spain screamed in elation after winning the final point. Sindhu stood there in quiet acceptance. After hugging her coach, Pullela Gopichand, she proceeded to embrace the new Olympic champion, picked up her racquet and placed it on top of Marin’s bag. There was defeat on the court, but her gesture put a lump in a billion throats. “I could not win the gold. But I really worked hard.” She won much more than a silver medal that night.

When Saina Nehwal, bronze medal winner from London 2012, crashed out early in the competition, the onus of salvaging some pride on the court rested squarely on Sindhu’s shoulders. Prior to her final match against Marin, the world No. 1 and reigning world champion, expectations were running so high that many would have simply crumbled under the weight. It was exacerbated further due to the dismal show by the rest of the Indian contingent. But the girl from Hyderabad is made of stern stuff.

After her return to a raucous welcome in Hyderabad, Sindhu, and indeed close members of her coaching staff, revealed in great detail the grind of the journey to the finals in Rio. The journey had, in fact, begun even before the London Games, where Nehwal broke into the medals.