Kolkata: Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu has added one more feather to her cap by becoming the second Indian woman to break into the top 5 in the latest BWF World Rankings. Sindhu won the the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold title last month and pulled off a career-best ranking of World No. 5 and sits comfortably as the best-placed Indian in the tally.
She went past Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi (68149) to go fifth with 69399 points as per the rankings released on recently. Sindhu sounded excited about her achievement saying, “I am very happy to reach world number 5. When I started the season last year I was expecting that I will improve my rankings. Now I am working hard to reach the world number 3 mark by the end of this year.”
Apart from Sindhu, Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to be a part of the top 10 of the latest BWF rankings at ninth. Saina did not have a great year in 2016 as she couldn’t play for most of the year due to a knee injury. On the contrary, Sindhu probably had the best year of her career as she bagged the silver medal at the Rio Olympics, becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal and the second Indian to win a badminton Olympic medal after Saina. She also won her maiden Super Series title by clinching the China Open and then went to the finals at Hong Kong Super Series to qualify for the prestigious BWF World Super Series Final in Dubai.
Sindhu has confidently come out of Saina’s shadow to build her own path. Though they have been trained under the same coach (P Gopichand) for quite a long period of time, both the shuttlers have always been strikingly different on the court. Saina’s fighting spirit, aggression and desire to win made her noticeable. All these traits appear to be non-existent in Sindhu up till now. Saina is tougher and faster. She moves swiftly all around the court, waiting to hit at the right moment. Sindhu is much more restricted, she is well-planned and depends more on her reach than control.
Saina and Sindhu are the two massive icons of Indian badminton. In spite of their differences and variations, these two are exemplary performers and have brought pride and glory to the nation.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)