World champion P V Sindhu remains India’s best Olympic medal prospect but she has to give more attention to her recovery process between matches to achieve the feat at the Tokyo Games, believes former India badminton coach Vimal Kumar.
Sindhu didn’t have a good outing in the three events in Thailand in January and even though she reached the finals at Swiss Open or the semifinals at All England, she suffered demoralising losses to Olympic champion Carolina Marin and Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong. “I feel the best (Olympic) medal prospect is Sindhu, she can and there is still time. She showed some glimpses against Akane Yamaguchi (at All England quarters). But she needs to give more attention to recovery to be ready for next match because there will not be 24 hours to recover,” Vimal told PTI.
At the Swiss Open final, Sindhu was blown away by Marin 12-21 5-21, while Chochuwong beat the Indian 21-17 21-9 in the semifinals at All England. However, the Indian showed great intensity during her win over Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the All England quarterfinals. “She has been very sluggish against Marin and Pornpawee. Between matches what you do, that matters, it is sometimes tough to recover due to the schedule. Look at the tennis players, after 5-6 hours of gruelling matches, they again play five-setters. So recovery really matters,” Vimal said.
