PV Sindhu, Olympic badminton hopefuls to shift training base from Gopichand academy

Indian badminton’s Olympic hopefuls will shift their training centre from the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad to the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium nearby to get a feel of Tokyo’s large venues.

The Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, which has a capacity of 7,200, will be the venue for badminton at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, Telangana can seat 5,000.

Indian badminton star PV Sindhu will start training along with her Korean coach Park Tae Sang at the Gachibowli stadium, where new courts are being laid, on Tuesday and will be joined by other Olympic aspirants later.

“She wants to train in an ambience that gives her a feel as if she is training in an Olympic arena,” PV Sindhu’s father and former India volleyball player PV Ramana told IANS.

“The change of venue is with the approval of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and in coordination with the Badminton Association of India (BAI),” Ramana added.

PV Sindhu also recently sampled the facilities at Jwala Gutta’s training centre. “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,” an official at the Jwala Gutta Academy of Excellence had told Sportstar.

Late last year, PV Sindhu was in England training at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) and preparing alongside British shuttlers Toby Penty and Rajiv Ouseph at the National Training Centre.

“It’s a different kind of feeling here,” PV Sindhu told the BWF website at the time. “Different places to train, it’s something new and I am learning new things.”

For now, other Indian shuttlers will continue their training at the Gopichand academy, which is less than 4kms away from the Gachibowli stadium.

PV Sindhu and other Indian badminton players will be in action next at the Swiss Open in March.