From Mahboob Ali to Pullela Gopichand: The badminton coaches that shaped PV Sindhu’s career

PV Sindhu is a badminton queen who has reached heights that no Indian ever has.

The Indian badminton star has won the world championship crown, two Olympic medals and dozens of other titles – all under the guidance of quality coaches.

From her first coach Mahboob Ali to her most recent coach Park Tae-Sang, PV Sindhu has been under the aegis of some of the best in the business. PV Sindhu's current coach is Anup Sridhar.

Here are the coaches that shaped PV Sindhu’s career.

PV Sindhu’s first coach: Mahboob Ali

PV Sindhu got her first lessons in badminton from late coach Mahboob Ali, who also trained Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal and world championships medallist Jwala Gutta.

Seeing their daughter’s interest in the sport, PV Sindhu’s parents signed her up for her first formal training at the Mahboob Ali Badminton Academy in Secunderabad.

A junior national medallist himself, Mahboob Ali instilled all the qualities of a star athlete in PV Sindhu early on.

“She was a very keen listener from a young age. She would grasp any inputs that she would get from coaches. She was just eight when she started playing and would practice for hours,” PV Sindhu’s father Ramana told Telangana Today.

After Mahboob Ali, PV Sindhu also trained under former chief national badminton coach and Dronacharya awardee SM Arif at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium. These early teachings proved pivotal in shaping Sindhu’s career.

“I think the initial years under Mehboob sir and SM Arif gave a solid foundation,” Ramana reckoned.

Domination begins under coach Pullela Gopichand

With a strong base given by her first coaches, PV Sindhu was then put under the wings of her inspiration Pullela Gopichand at the Gachibowli Stadium.

Sindhu had first shown interest in the sport after Gopichand’s win at the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001.

Under the watchful eyes of Pullela Gopichand, PV Sindhu transformed from a badminton-loving kid to an all-conquering champion.

But it came at a cost.

Sindhu and her father would travel for more than 50kms from their house in Marredpally every day to attend the training sessions in Gachibowli.

“Sindhu began to cry whenever I asked her to skip a practice session,” her father revealed. “It became tedious, as we had to get up at 3:30 AM and rush to the academy. I had to come back to the office, which was in Secunderabad.”

The sacrifices soon paid off as the Sindhu-Gopichand duo began dominating the sub-junior and junior level competitions across the country.

Sindhu won the all-India ranking tournaments in the under-10 and under-13 categories and several sub-junior nationals in both singles as well as doubles.

With India all conquered, Sindhu and Gopichand set their eyes overseas.

The Hyderabad youngster won a bronze medal on her international debut at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships.

Although still playing at the junior level, Sindhu also made her senior debut at the India Open in 2009. Two years later, Gopichand guided the 15-year-old to her first senior title at the 2011 Maldives International Challenge.

While the teenager was still climbing up the ranks, Gopichand’s other ward Saina Nehwal was already a force at the world level and even won an Olympic bronze in 2012.

Twelve years earlier, Pullela Gopichand had lost in the pre-quarters at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. So, after Saina’s bronze medal, coach Gopichand thought his dream was fulfilled and he should quit the sport.

“When we won that medal in 2012, it almost felt like I was done. I felt I had had enough of this,” Gopichand told the Olympics.com.

But Gopichand stuck through, knowing there was the prodigious PV Sindhu who could reach even greater heights.

The decision bore fruit in the coming years as Sindhu went on to win medals at the world championships, the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.

Sindhu-Gopi script history at Rio

With coach Gopichand by her side, PV Sindhu did one better than Saina Nehwal at Rio 2016. She made history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal at the Olympics.

Although the Indian ace lost to Carolina Marin in the Rio Olympics final, the campaign catapulted PV Sindhu to the upper echelons of badminton.

Sindhu, under Gopichand’s tutelage, went on to win more silvers at the world championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

However, the yellow metal remained elusive.

PV Sindhu’s rise to the top inspired many new Indian shuttlers, who were starting to make a mark in badminton. And with Gopichand also being the chief Indian coach, the duo found very little time to work together.

So, to attend to Sindhu’s needs, a new coach was hired.

PV Sindhu scales new heights with coach Kim Ji Hyun

The Republic of Korea’s Kim Ji Hyun joined Pullela Gopichand’s team of coaches in 2019 but worked mostly with PV Sindhu.

An accomplished player herself, Kim Ji Hyun was an Asian Games gold medallist and had a dozen more podium finishes at the Sudirman Cup, Uber Cup, Asian Championships and Asian Cup.

The pair gelled quickly.

Just months after taking charge, Kim Ji Hyun guided Sindhu to the top of the world as she won the BWF World Championship in 2019 – becoming the first Indian to do so.

“I wanted to win that final at any cost. I did not know how I would do it, but I knew that I had to achieve it,” Sindhu said, having lost two successive world finals.

However, Kim Ji Hyun and PV Sindhu’s partnership ended prematurely when the Korean coach had to head back home after her husband fell ill.

PV Sindhu falls and rises under Park Tae-Sang

Following Kim’s departure, another South Korean Park Tae-Sang took over the role of PV Sindhu’s coach towards the end of 2019.

Park, who was originally hired as the men’s singles coach for the Indian team, competed at the Athens 2004 Olympics, where he reached the quarter-finals.

The Sindhu-Park duo, however, struggled to give results in the initial months and did not win any title after her world championship gold.

But with eyes on the Tokyo Olympics, Park continued training the ace Indian shuttler for five-to-six hours in the crucial months ahead of the Games and even shifted base from Gopichand Academy to Gachibowli stadium.

“The indoor arena size (of Gachibowli) is of international standards. It’s similar to that of the badminton venue at the Tokyo Olympics and what we generally experience during international tournaments,” Sindhu told the Times of India.

“It’s important to understand the familiarity of the venue and stimulate such conditions at home. Also, the AC blowers are a major factor for ‘drift’ inside the playing venue.”

The move proved pivotal at Tokyo 2020 as PV Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals.

Sindhu defeated the People's Republic of China’s He Bingjiao to win the bronze in only her second appearance at the Olympic Games. The Indian was quick to credit her success to Park, revealing it was he who motivated her after the semi-final defeat to Tai Tzu Ying.

“I was really sad and upset (after the semi defeat). But Mr Park told me we have another chance. He told me there’s a lot of difference between a bronze and a fourth place.

“We had a common dream for the last one and half years. He was literally in tears (after the match). I went over to him — this was his effort also,” Sindhu said.

The bronze medal was a big accomplishment for Park as well.

"It is the first time that an Indian badminton player has won two Olympic medals in badminton, so it is a great achievement not only for Sindhu but also a big moment for my teaching life," Park told PTI.

Following the Tokyo triumph, Park Tae-Sang guided PV Sindhu to three BWF World Tour tiles in 2022 - the Syed Modi International, Swiss Open and Singapore Open. The Indian badminton ace also won the women's singles gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham under the South Korean.

Park Tae-Sang, however, parted ways with PV Sindhu in February 2023.

PV Sindhu struggles under Muhammad Hafiz Hashim

After five months without a coach, PV Sindhu announced Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, a former All England and a Commonwealth Games champion, as her new coach.

During his playing days, Muhammad Hafiz Hashim guided Team Malaysia to several medals at the Thomas Cup, the Sudirman Cup and the Asian Games. He was also part of the gold medal-winning mixed team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Individually, Hafiz Hashim won the men's singles gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and clinched the coveted All England crown in 2003, beating China's Chen Hong in the final. His other singles exploits include titles at the Swiss, Dutch, Thailand and Philippines Opens.

Hafiz's coaching career saw him train at the Academy Badminton Malaysia and the Suchitra Badminton Academy in Hyderabad.

Sindhu and Hashim's association, however, failed to yield the desired results. The Indian shuttler failed to win a single tournament on the BWF World Tour. She just made one final, at the Madrid Masters and slipped out of the top 10 in the world rankings.

Sindhu's Olympic campaign under Agus Dwi Santoso ends without a medal

From January 2024 up until the Paris 2024 Olympics, Sindhu trained under Indonesian legend Agus Dwi Santoso.

Santoso, who had previously been in the national setups in Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam, has coached several world and Olympic medallists, including Sydney 2000 Olympic silver medallist Hendrawan.

He also guided Indonesia’s Budi Santoso to the All England Open 2002 final and helped Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan bag a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.

South Korea's Son Wan-ho also rose to world No. 1 in men's singles rankings under Agus Dwi Santoso’s tutelage. He was also the coach of Indian singles players, including Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth, during the Tokyo Olympics. Sindhu, at the time, was training under Park.

Agus Dwi Santoso's contract ended after the Paris 2024 Summer Games, from which the Indian ace returned empty handed from the Olympics for the first time in her career.

Nevertheless, Agus Dwi Santoso was instrumental in getting the Indian shuttler back from injury, which had afflicted her since her gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

PV Sindhu's current coach: Anup Sridhar

After the Paris 2024 Olympics, PV Sindhu appointed Anup Sridhar as the new coach to see out the rest of the season on a trial basis. She also took on the services of former South Korean shuttler Lee Hyun-il as a consulting coach. Lee Hyun-il is a former world No. 1 while Anup Sridhar previously served as the coach of Lakshya Sen.