She might have lost the best women’s final but won the heart of millions of her supporters with her steely display. A valiant PV Sindhu went down to Nazomi Okuhara in the World Championship title match in Glasgow on Sunday evening
Merely thee days after she lost an epic World Championships gold medal to Nazomi Okuhara, the 22-year-old Sindhu admitted that she was disappointed but then life must go on.
Speaking to Sunday Guardian from Hyderabad, Sindhu said that “Yes there is no doubt that I am disappointed with the loss as I felt I could have won it. But then there are certain things which are beyond one’s control,” she said.
Sindhu said that the final was befitting a World championship title match. ‘The standard of badminton dished out was of the highest order. There is no doubt about this. Both of us gave our heart and soul. There is no doubt that I would have been happier had I won the gold. I also felt that it was not my day,” she admitted.
Sindhu also complimented her rival. “There is no doubt that Okuhara played a great match. Actually, there was nothing separating between both of us. At 20 all in the decider, it was anybody’s match. I am happy that this final will be remembered for a long time to come,” she added.
Speaking on the final, Sindhu said it was a very exhausting match. “At that point all I was thinking was to get that point because it was World Championship final. I was playing to the court and Okuhara was equally tired,” she said.
She said since the long rallies were being played from the beginning and every rally was equally tough, there was no way she could have conserved the energy for the final moments.
Sindhu did not believe that the cheering by the fans was disturbing her in the tense game. “It was good in a way that too many Indians and other people were cheering for me. I would like to thank them,” she said.
She feels she had worked hard for the World Championships as she had got enough time to prepare. She said it would have been tough to recover after a long match like the final at semifinal or quarter final stage.
On beating Chinese players, Sindhu said she just play her game and give her best. “Everyone has different style of play. It’s not that I do something different with Chinese,” she said.
Sindhu believes with more long rallies, the badminton matches in singles or doubles will not be easy anymore and every player will have to fight hard to win a point.
The star shuttler was also happy that from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bollywood stars to cricketers and other sportspersons all were commenting on social media, cheering and congratulating her. She said it was a great feeling and it gave her the motivation.
She said while badminton as a sport has increased in its popularity since Rio Olympics, she did not believe in the comparison with Sachin Tendulkar. She described the batting maestro as a great person and said cricket was a different game.
On his part, chief badminton coach P. Gopichand said the final was one of the best matches in the history of badminton. He exuded confidence that next time, Sindhu would return with gold medal.
“She is just 22. She already as three World Championships medals and one Olympic medal under her belt. By the end of her career, she will have lot of gold medals in her cabinet,” he said.