With two back-to-back bronze medals in world championships adorning her list of achievements, Rio-bound Indian shuttler P V Sindhu says she will consider it a bigger feat if she could climb the podium on debut during the Olympic Games in August.
“It’s much more than world championships. The ultimate goal for anyone is to get a medal in the Olympics where the conditions and environment are totally different. (But) first of all I am very excited. It’s my first Olympics,” said the 20-year-old Hyderabadi at a media interaction here today.
World No. 10 Sindhu and fellow-Hyderabadi Saina Nehwal, ranked two rungs above her currently, will be the two big hopes for the country in the August 5-21 sports spectacle which is to be held for the first time ever in South America.
Sindhu, who will turn 21 exactly a month before the Games Opening, expressed her happiness that a total of seven shuttlers, two more than in London four years ago, had made the grade for the Rio Games.
“It’s great that seven players have been selected for the Olympics, including the women’s doubles team (Jwala Gutta and Arti Ponnappa) for the second time and the men’s doubles team (Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy) for the first time.
“It’s also (K) Srikkanth’s first time (at the Olympics). He too will be excited. I wish all of us play well and give our best,” said Sindhu, who won singles bronze medals in the 2013 and 2014 world championships held at Guangzhou (China) and Copenhagen (Denmark).
“We have been training hard. We need to push ourselves more. We are doing training off and on court, but the main thing is to keep ourselves fit and healthy. We need to be healthy as well as injury free,” said Sindhu who is supported by not-for-profit organisation, Olympic Gold Quest.
The lanky shuttler was here to get a special insole fitted in the shoe of her right foot which was fractured one year ago and put her off the badminton scene for a considerable period of time. Sindhu said that only after stepping on the court in Rio can she exactly say how different the environment will be, but she did not think the Olympics meant extra pressure.
“It’s the Olympic Games, so you need to play well. Everything is in your mind, but (there’s) nothing like (extra) pressure. It’s really exciting, but I may not know till I play a match as it’s the first time for me.”
She said it was crucial for the team members to be strong, both on the physical as well as the mental side.
