PV Sindhu Ready For Tokyo Olympics

Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra Group took his Twitter handle and tweeted after watching the video of PV Sindhu's training sessions “Brutal. I’m exhausted just watching this. But now there’s no mystery about why she’s the World Champ. A whole generation of budding Indian sportspersons will follow her lead & not shrink from the commitment required to get to the top…”

Sindhu's intensive training sessions haven't slowed down as she prepares for the 2018 Tokyo Olympics. Srikanth Varma Madapalli, a 40-year-old strength and conditioning trainer, is the guy behind Sindhu's enormous training. Sindhu has been training for the Tokyo Games at Suchitra Badminton Academy. “Sindhu is mentally and physically prepared for the Olympics," Srikanth added.

Srikanth has been training Sindhu for the last five years. “She is a born athlete and she is a delight to any strength and conditioning trainer. I worked with many athletes but Sindhu’s work ethic is supreme. She has the ability to take any amount of load and looks fresh even the next day. She does all this with a smile. That is the beauty of Sindhu. That is the reason I have been able to work with her all these years. She never shows any anger in the workout. Importantly, she has been injury-free all these years. I have done a lot of research while giving the training to Sindhu,’’ said Srikanth.

Srikanth was taken aback by Sindhu's manner when he first met her in 2017, after being introduced by Praveen Raju and Pradeep Raju. “She had no airs of being a superstar. (PV) Ramana Garu simply told me to take care of his daughter and treat her the way he does to other athletes. He gave me full freedom. That gave me the huge encouragement to train Sindhu. She is a different athlete who believes in result-oriented training. She is focused and disciplined. It took two days to assess her and before I began her training sessions.’’

Srikanth said that Sindhu's fitness has been constantly improving. "Even if there was a Covid-19 epidemic, we never stopped training. It was a four-year programme designed to prepare her for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I've been focusing on explosive power for the past 45 days because other rivals may be working on similar lines. I was able to analyse the body language and capability of some of the players since I watched them compete in international competitions. So accordingly, I designed her training for the Olympics. We also focused on the footwork and the capacity to play long rallies (30 to 35) and long matches (three games). I will be monitoring her from Hyderabad during the Olympics."