PV Sindhu trains at Jwala Gutta’s academy to get a feel of Tokyo conditions

Indian badminton queen PV Sindhu trained at former shuttler Jwala Gutta’s new badminton academy in Hyderabad on Wednesday. 

The Jwala Gutta Academy of Excellence was inaugurated in November last year and is aimed at providing  high-class facilities to aspiring and professional badminton players.

While offering shuttlers multiple courts to train, the Jwala Gutta Academy of Excellence also pays special attention to the drift that a professional shuttler faces inside the court.

The academy uses special blowers to simulate the conditions that Indian badminton players will experience in courts around the world, particularly the drift at the Tokyo Olympics later this year.

PV Sindhu, who has played with Jwala Gutta for the Indian badminton team on multiple occasions, had been unable to visit the academy as she had been training in England late last year.

World No. 7 PV Sindhu then flew to Thailand at the start of the year to play in the Asian leg of the 2020 BWF World Tour, playing the Yonex Thailand Open, the Toyota Thailand Open, and the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals.

Sindhu was not at her best on her return to competition, exiting early in all three tournaments, and had only returned home to Hyderabad recently. Swiss Open will be Sindhu's next destination.

“Sindhu got a feel of the facilities by training for a couple of hours in the morning,” an official at the Jwala Gutta Academy of Excellence told Sportstar.

“She stated that it is better for players to train at different international standard venues in view of the extensive travelling they have to do for the BWF events in different conditions.”

Jwala Gutta has joined badminton legends like Pullela Gopichand and Prakash Padukone in starting a sports academy in India after retiring. They could soon be joined by Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal, who has already received approval to start an academy in Dharamsala.