After bagging silver at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, PV Sindhu, who lost the badminton singles finals to Saina Nehwal, had been attending one felicitation ceremony after another in India. It was between two such felicitations in the capital that she found time to speak about her disappointment in missing out on gold, her rivalry with Saina Nehwal, and how badminton culture is growing in India.

One of the highlights of the Commonwealth Games for Indians was the all-India women’s singles badminton final between Sindhu and Saina. In the end, Sindhu had to settle for silver as Saina emerged victorious. The 22-year-old admits to being disappointed, but promises to bounce back.

“I think it’s part of the game. Winning and losing are part of life. The result can’t always go in your favour. I gave it my all but she (Saina) played well and it was her day. The important thing is that I have learnt a lot from my mistakes and now I have to come back stronger,” says Sindhu. Ask her if we can expect a repeat of the match in the Olympics and Sindhu laughs. “Why not? But there is a lot of time for that. 2020 is still some time away. Before that, we have a lot of tournaments coming up and this year has already been hectic. So, it’s about keeping ourselves fit and keep moving forward,” she says.

‘Saina and I are friends off court’

Naturally, the conversation moves to her rivalry with Saina Nehwal. “Of course, the rivalry is there. When we both play in a tournament, people expect Saina and I will face each other in the final, which is what happened at Gold Coast,” she says, adding, “I think the rivalry is good for the sport as it spurs both of us to perform better. On court, only one can win but it’s about how hard you play.” But are the two players friends off court? “We are friends, off court,” she replies, “I mean, she has different timings for her training sessions and I have different timings for mine. So, we don’t get to interact or hang out a lot.”

‘Kids are now taking up badminton as a career’

Apart from the individual successes of Sindhu, Saina, and Kidambi Srikanth, the 2018 Commonwealth Games marked the first instance where India won the gold in the mixed team event. Sindhu credits this to hard work by the players and support from the administration, in equal measure. She says, “It’s the first time we bagged the gold (in mixed team event) and it feels good that we have all done so well. We are extremely happy about it. It is largely because of the players and the coaches that we have been able to achieve this, but credit also goes to the Badminton Association of India. Not only for their support but also for the rewards that they have showered us with, after the games. These things motivate us.”

Sindhu says the one positive she has seen in Indian badminton in the last few years is the development of a concrete badminton culture. She explains, “If you see kids nowadays, many of them are taking up badminton as a career option. Particularly after the Olympics (the Rio Olympics where Sindhu won a silver), many of them picked up the racket with the intention of becoming professionals. And definitely, as a sport, badminton is doing really well.”

‘Not just a few individuals, overall, India is doing really well in badminton’

The world number 3 believes that India is on the road to becoming a superpower in world badminton. “If you see the top 20-30 players in the world, we have so many Indians. Currently, there are 10-15 Indian players who are doing really well, internationally. A decade ago, there used to be just one or two. This shows that it is not just individuals who are succeeding but the sport itself is growing. India is doing really well and in the coming years, there will be many more players at the top, hopefully,” says Sindhu.

Sindhu says that she is often asked what India needs to reach the level of Chinese badminton players, but she feels that this question is no longer relevant as Indian players have already reached that level. She adds, “We are not less than China, Malaysia, or Korea in any way. We are equal, I would say. We are consistently beating the Chinese players. So, it isn’t like we are unable to compete with them. I feel it boils down to the match day and who plays well on that particular day.”

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