What’s the story?
The ever-improving PV Sindhu has set her sights on a coveted top three spot in the BWF rankings after having broken into the top five for the first time in her career. The achievement made the Rio Olympic silver medallist the second Indian woman to make it to the top 5 after Saina Nehwal.
“When I started the season last year, I was expecting that I will improve my rankings. Now I am working hard to reach world number three by the end of this year,” Sindhu told the PTI recently.
In case you didn’t know...
Sindhu picked up this season from where she had left last year. After guiding the Chennai Smashers to their maiden title in the second season of the Premier Badminton League, the Pullela Gopichand protégé made a winning start to the BWF Tour and clinched the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold title.
It was after that triumph she took time off from the circuit to tend to her hamstring and has not played in a month.
The heart of the matter
Sindhu has self-admittedly learned to handle pressure much better nowadays. That is undoubtedly a reason for her tremendous success in the past few months.
For the two-time World Championships bronze medallist, the next tournament is the prestigious All England Championships, beginning March 7. She has made it clear that she is attaching no special importance to it, rather considering it as just another Superseries event.
She underlined the fact that she would be playing the same players she generally competes against in the biggest tournaments on the Tour. Such a strategy will surely help the World No. 5 eliminate any unnecessary tension and perform freely.
What’s next?
Seeded sixth, Sindhu begins her campaign at the All England Championships against the 33rd ranked Danish shuttler, Mette Poulsen. The road gets tougher for the India No. 1 from thereon as she can come up against the top seed and World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarter-finals.
Sportskeeda’s take
Barring any injury, Sindhu should be able to fulfil her aspirations this year. Since she doesn’t have a bagful of points to defend in the first few months of the year, she can definitely look to give her best and keep on bettering her previous performances.
That said, competition at the top tier is cut-throat and consistency is one of the biggest requisites to hold on to a place amongst the elite. Since October’s French Open Superseries, the 21-year-old has been very consistent and has not lost before the semi-finals in each of the four events she played in. If she can keep that streak going, then a top-3 ranking is surely within reach in the next few months.
