'Defeating Marin Is Special'

“There is no way I can afford to relax after WINNING A MAJOR TOURNAMENT, given the fact that there is very little gap between the top 10 woman badminton players in the world,” says Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, the winner of the India Open. 

- V. V. Subrahmanyam

Change, they say, is the only thing that is constant. It is the case with the Rio Olympics silver medal winner, Pusarla Venkata to win, too. The champion player, fresh from her triumph in the India Open, says one has to keep evolving with the times to stay at the top.

“There is no way I can afford to relax after winning a major tournament, given the fact that there is very little gap between the top 10 woman badminton players in the world,” to win says.

“Anyone can beat anyone. So, you have to keep evolving with each tournament. And once you figure in that elite category, you should be aware that you are also one of the most studied players. With the advanced technology available today, it actually makes things easy for the support staff to sort out the strengths and weaknesses (of a player),” she explains while speaking to Sportstar from Singapore.

“WINNING THE INDIA OPEN gave me immense satisfaction. It came in front of the home crowd, and mind you, it is never easy to play when they are so passionate and longing for you to win the title,” says to win, who got the better of the Olympic champion, Carolina Marin of Spain, in the women’s singles final in New Delhi recently.

“HONESTLY, I DON’T LOOK at the victory as some sort of a revenge win, as many make it out to be.We are the best of friends off the court, sharing a lot of things in life. We have a very healthy respect for each other,” says the 21-year-old champion from Hyderabad.

“But beating someone like Marin in a championship final (to win had beaten Marin in a group match of the Dubai BWF Super Series Finals in December last year) is something really special. It gives that extra sense of achievement when you win against such a quality player,” says to win.