Prakash Padukone helping PV Sindhu with technical suggestions and chalking out tournament plan: Vimal Kumar | Badminton News

Olympic bronze medal PV Sindhu spent a good part of this last week training at the Prakash Padukone academy, and the All England legend was present at all sessions offering her suggestions, the director of the PPBA Vimal Kumar said. She returned home on Sunday afternoon, and was scheduled to travel abroad for two days, before returning to India and heading out to the Asian Games thereafter.
“She came for a week with her coach Hafiz Hashim and Prakash was talking a lot with her to help her out and offered some suggestions. He also helped Sindhu chalk out a tournament plan,” Vimal said.
While stressing that Sindhu has some way to go before she hits the high chords, Vimal added that with top players you couldn’t rule out surprise results. “We are not expecting much from the Asian Games, but with top players, if they are in a happy mental state, they can perform well,” he added.
It has been a wretched season for Sindhu with several early round exits this year, including one against a resurgent Nozomi Okuhara at the World Championships. She withdrew from the China Open that ended Sunday.
Vimal was optimic that Padukone could help her. “He was finding a way to motivate her. With players who’ve competed at the highest levels, sometimes if you can relate to them and understand what they’re going through, it’s a big relief for them. Prakash was there for all her sessions,” he said.

Vimal refused to comment on whether it would be a long-term arrangement, saying Sindhu would be travelling from the Asian Games to the European swing to play the Arctic Open, France and Denmark Opens. But he was very hopeful of a regeneration. “She’s only 27-28. She can play at the top level for another 3-4 years. The right physical training becomes crucial at this stage of the career. But top players can make adjustments quickly. The best thing about Sindhu is that despite being India’s highest achieving player, she’s still receptive to advice, and wants to do well,” he said.
Sindhu has been based out of her hometown Hyderabad and alternates her training between Gachibowli stadium and the Suchitra Academy. It was only recently that she started working with the new coach, Malaysian former All England champion Md Hafiz Hashim.
She has struggled to stem a down surge in her performances since her return from a foot injury aggravation she suffered at the Commonwealth Games last year.
Ranked 14th now, Sindhu exited in her opening round at the World’s, made quarters at Australia, suffered first round exits at Korea and Japan, lost in quarters to Gao Fangjie at US Open, went down in the semis to Akane Yamaguchi at Canada Open and was out in Round of 16 to Tai Tzu Ying at Indonesia. It was a horror run for Sindhu, and the fight seemed to be going out of her after trying hard in the first half of the season.
The Singapore Open in June best summed up her struggles, as Sindhu took the opening set against Yamaguchi but went on to lose the next two in the first round. There was a hint of a fight before that against Michelle Li at the Thailand Open. Her best showing arguably came at the Malaysia Open where she reached the semis, but was soundly beaten Gregoria Tunjung of Indonesia, to whom she had lost similarly in the Spain Masters final, the Indonesian’s deception rendering her clueless. Sindhu would lose both her matches at the Sudirman Cup, as other team players too returned poor outings.
She had helped India to a medal at the Mixed Team Asia Championships, and had a decent run at the Badminton Asia Championships till she was ousted after taking a 21-18 set off An Se Young but losing the next two 21-5, 21-9. Early exits at the Swiss Open and a first round ouster at All England had set the tone for the season.Most Read
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The year had begun with two scarring losses against left handers Carolina Marin at Malaysia and Supanida Katethong at the India Open.

Sindhu would also switch away from Korean coach Park Tae Sang midway through the year, and work with SAI coach Vidhi Choudhary. Though she showed the ability to snare a set away from the top names in the early part, Sindhu wasn’t managing to beat the Top Tenners, and the wretched luck then extended to when playing against those out of Top 20 even. She looked like in the middle of a confidence crisis, as the losses piled up.
Always an attacking player when she won, Sindhu had lapsed into a defensive playing style, and landed in a rut, where she hardly takes any initiative. Passive and not pushing the pace, her game has gotten predictable. Padukone or any other top coach working with her, will need to reignite that attacking intent in her, though that would require her to be physically at her best. While she is injury-free, coaches including Vimal reckon she is many paces off the top gear, though he refused to comment on where her game is at, right now.