Hope to win gold at World Championship this time, says PV Sindhu

Indian ace P V Sindhu exuded confidence of striking gold at the World championship in August after settling for the silver medal twice in the last two editions. “Yes, last two times it was silver in the World championship. I am hopeful of winning the gold this time,” Sindhu, who finished runner-up in the last two editions of the world championship, told reporters here.

“It is one of the biggest tournaments and nobody is going to give it away easily. It is just about giving my best. Everybody is aiming for Tokyo 2020 and there are many good players and its not going to be easy.

The next big event for Sindhu will be the All England Championship, a tournament last won by her mentor and chief national coach Pullela Gopichand in 2001.

It would be a great chance for Sindhu to end India’s 18 year jinx at the tournament, considering three-time World Champion Carolina Marin is not playing due to the knee injury sustained during the Indonesia Masters final last month.

“Even though Carolina is not playing, it is not going to be easy. There are very good players from China, Japan, Thailand. The top-15 ranked players are on the same level,” Sindhu said.

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“Sometimes you might play brilliantly, give more than 100 percent, but might make few unforced errors. Sometimes your mind might not work, the strategy might not work,” she added.

Sindhu, who was here to launch Mission Sports, an organisation committed to providing high quality sports, said her focus is to remain physically fit.

“It depends whether you are able to give your 100 percent or not. For me, every tournament is to give it my all and it’s important to stay focused and remain physically fit,” she said.

“It is not about just participating and coming back. It is about discussing the situation with the coach and picking the tournaments and choosing which ones to play and which ones to skip,” she added.

Sindhu, who will play in the Senior National Championship in Guwahati said the event would bring to the fore the country’s badminton standard.

“I think we get to see a lot of young players and previously I have seen that there are many youngsters who have good skills,” she said.

“It will be a good opportunity for them to play against us and us getting to see them. I think the Nationals will help us to see the standard of badminton in India,” she added.

Sindhu launched Mission Sports in the presence of India cricketer Murali Vijay.