Paris Olympics 2024: A Heartbreak For PV Sindhu, But Ace Indian Shuttler Has Left A Rich Legacy

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It may be tempting to say the sun has set on the career of PV Sindhu if you are a heartless hack. But do not forget what laurels this lovely lady from Hyderabad brought India at the two Olympics in Rio 2016 and 2021 Tokyo, a silver and bronze medal. These two medals made Sindhu an icon, a diva, someone who dreamt, dared and delivered.

Her loss on Thursday (August 1) at the Paris Olympics was sad for all fans but Sindhu tried hard. The way she has battled injuries in the last two years is crazy. In 2022, at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Sindhu won a medal despite injury.

But then, when she returned to Hyderabad, her leg was in a cast. She had not told her father PV Ramana she had a hairline fracture and wanted to push hard as that was possibly her last CWG. What she did was brilliant but the recovery, later, was incident-filled.

When PV Sindhu went to Hangzhou for the Asian Games last year, she was not fully prepared. She had come off another injury and her form was rusty. Yet, she tried. In 2024, when Sindhu made the cut for the Paris Olympics, she wanted to have a clear plan.

That meant she would request 1980 All England champion Prakash Padukone and coach Vimal Kumar to help her out. The duo from Bengaluru worked hard on her and drilled her and the physio team ensured Sindhu was fit, very fit. She had her chances on Thursday against a Chinese fast player but a few chances she missed proved costly.

A sports post-mortem is easy. Even a social media heartless person can be unkind to Sindhu but she deserves love and affection. In terms of hard work and intensity, she had shown great effort.

A third shot at Olympic glory would have been a dream come true, no, she fell. What does one remember, the Sindhu loss or how she scaled great heights in Rio and Tokyo? Each version of Sindhu in the Olympics has been different.

In Rio, she was raw, a combust girl who could smash and power her way through. Before Tokyo, her preparations were not easy because of the Covid pandemic. Training halls and the Gopichand Academy were shut. She had to find other ways to work on fitness and used the private Suchitra academy to soar.

When she went to Tokyo, there was apprehension about the virus, and how to deal with it. That she won a bronze was big and made her a real queen of Indian badminton, much bigger than pioneer Saina Nehwal. From Tokyo to Paris, the three-year journey was not easy. Sindhu has faced battles and ensured she could give her best.

Paris is heartbreak for all but she has left a rich legacy. She needs time to recover, think and see what next. For anyone suggesting retirement, that would be crazy. Sindhu knows Prakash Padukone will not travel with her for every event, but she may still bank on Vimal Kumar, the coach who works on her technique.

In India, when an athlete fails, there is a tendency to rubbish the athlete. Sindhu does not deserve any trolling, her sport is a hard one where maintaining peak form is not easy. Indeed, she has added a new dimension as well in her game, deception.

Can she continue to reinvent and go on to prepare for the Asian Games in 2026 is the question on many minds. Her family will let her think and relax first. Till then, cheer Sindhu. She has been a champion athlete.