PV Sindhu keen to return to competitive badminton with Uber Cup in October
Indian women have been clubbed with China, France and Germany in the Uber Cup, the world championship of women’s team badminton.
India’s No. 1 shuttler and 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu is eyeing a return to competitive badminton with the Thomas and Uber Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Denmark from October 3.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) had decided to suspend all events from mid-March following the All England Open Championship, where PV Sindhu was the only Indian to reach the quarter-finals.
PV Sindhu, the current world No. 7, returned to training at the Gopichand Academy on Friday, after the Telangana government allowed resumption of training for Olympic probables and is already preparing for the Uber Cup.
“If everything goes on well, the next tournament I will be playing would be the Uber Cup in October,” PV Sindhu told Times of India.
“Maybe in a few weeks we will know about the rules and regulations, and the measures we need to take (to guard against the COVID pandemic).
“I hope things will get better as the Thomas and Uber Cups are two months away,” Sindhu, the reigning BWF world champion added.
Thomas and Uber Cups are the official world championships of men and women’s team badminton, respectively.
Though PV Sindhu plans to continue the calendar year from thereon, the cancellation of numerous badminton tournaments and the rescheduling of the Thomas and Uber Cups twice will keep her tournament schedule uncertain.
“First, we will start with Thomas and Uber Cups in Denmark. Then it would be the Denmark Open followed by French Open,” Sindhu said.
“But as of now I don't know how my schedule takes shape,” added PV Sindhu, who is working on new strokes and variations to add to her repertoire.
India women handed favourable draw
The draws for the Thomas and Uber Cup, which will run from October 3 to 11, are already out with the Indian women have been clubbed with China, France and Germany in Group D.
India’s men shuttlers have been put into Group C alongside 2016 champions Denmark, Germany and Algeria. Both the Indian women and men's teams will come into the tournament as the fifth seed.
After ending 2019 as the world champion, PV Sindhu had started this year by reaching two quarter-finals and will hope to build momentum into the Tokyo Olympics next year, where she will look to go one better than the silver medal she claimed in the women's singles at Rio 2016.