Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu: "Every day is a learning process"

She may have two Olympic medals – Rio 2016 silver and Tokyo 2020 bronze – to her name, but India's badminton star PV Sindhu has never stopped trying to better herself.

So much so, she took the step of leaving her long-term coach Pullela Gopichand in the lead up to last year's delayed Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020 in 2021, switching to former South Korean national player Park Tae Sang.

In an interview with Olympics.com in December, Sindhu said of her relationship with Park: "I think a coach-and-player bond is very, very important; [it's] where you understand each other – what's going on mentally and physically, because that is very important to know what the player is going through when he or she is playing a match."

That bond helped her overcome the disappointment of losing in the Tokyo 2020 semi-finals to bounce back in the bronze-medal playoff, and is also what keeps her drive going in the shortened cycle to Paris 2024.

It's a cycle that for Sindhu continues next week at the 2022 German Open, where she's due to play Thai shuttler Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the first round – with a potential quarter-final against world number one Tai Tzu-ying awaiting her.

Learning every day

Sindhu also said that despite her ability and her achievements in the sport, she continues to pick up new things on a daily basis.

"Every day is a learning process," she expressed.

"Even though I have everything, I think you still have to keep learning because every day you learn something or another thing and it is never too late.

"I feel that I can learn a lot more and I can do [better] in the next Olympics if I keep myself fit mentally and physically."

The Indian, who lost to Carolina Marín in the final at Rio 2016 and defeated He Bingjiao in the Tokyo 2020 bronze medal match to win her two Olympic medals, explained that she attached equal importance to both the mental and physical aspects of badminton.

"It is definitely a lot of your tactics and mindset and how you are doing mentally, and how you're playing physically – both matches.

"It's not just [that] you go on to the court, your skill is good and you win. You also have to be mentally fit and you need to accordingly make a plan, that is tactically how to change [your opponent's] mindset, or tactically how to play a mind game with them.

"So I think each and every thing matters. Yeah, it's very important."

PV Sindhu's Paris 2024 goals

After the upheaval of changing coaches from Gopichand to Park ahead of Tokyo, Sindhu is now set with her coaching team – based in Hyderabad, just as she was previously in her old coaching set-up – as she looks forward to the next Games in France.

"We've been training together since a long time now," she reflected. "I will be continuing with [my team] and hoping to keep myself fit and injury free, because that is very, very important.

"And yeah, I think I would definitely continue with Mr Park until 2024 and hope for the best results to come out."

And, Sindhu added, Park has managed to find a way to get the best out of her, recalling the Tokyo Games.

"Especially after losing the semi-finals [in Tokyo], […] I had mixed emotions, whether I have to be happy because I have another chance or I have to be sad because I already lost the chance to go to the finals," she said.

"But my coach told me that it's not over yet, and there's a lot of difference between a bronze and the fourth position. [That was] the thing that really hit me in my mind.

"[After that, I thought] 'You know, no matter what, I need to give my best.'"