PV Sindhu teams up with Prakash Padukone ahead of 2024 Paris Olympics
Padukone, the first Indian to win the All England Open and a former world No. 1, is Sindhu’s mentor.
Badminton
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu announced that former world No. 1 Prakash Padukone has been appointed as her mentor ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
PV Sindhu, a former world champion, has been struggling with injuries since winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games last year. Though PV Sindhu played in over 15 BWF tournaments in 2023, the injuries marred her progress and she was unable to win a single BWF title this year.
Sindhu also roped in Hafez Hashim in place of Park Tae-Sang as her coach earlier this year to battle the slump in form.
"Prakash sir is assuming the role of the mentor in my setup,” Sindhu said on her social media pages. “I started training with him at the end of August, and it's been uphill ever since. He's more than a mentor; he's my guide, my guru, and, above all, a true friend.
“I am so grateful he reached out to me with one call when I was in Japan, and we have built on that connection exceptionally well," Sindhu added.
Sindhu had been training on and off with Hafiz Hashim at Hyderabad’s Suchitra Badminton Academy. However, the five-time world championships medallist will make Bengaluru an extended training base in the run-up to the Paris Olympics.
As a player, Prakash Padukone was an All-England champion, a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist and was considered one of the leading singles players in the world in the late 1970s and 1980s.
The first challenge for Prakash Padukone will be to get PV Sindhu back in full fitness and at the same time preserve the form she displayed at the Arctic Open and Denmark Open.
PV Sindhu is currently under protected ranking following a knee injury she suffered at the French Open in October. The injury came as a major setback to Sindhu, who was gradually regaining her form after a poor start to the 2023 badminton season.
With the protected ranking, Sindhu will be locked at world No. 10 in the BWF rankings until she recovers her fitness. The protected ranking will also help Sindhu navigate the crucial Olympic qualification period, which started in May 2023 and runs until April 2024.