Mumbai: PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, over the years have turned out to become the biggest names in Indian badminton in all these years. Both have made the country proud on numerous occasions and have raised the bar every time they’ve stepped foot on the badminton court.
The rivalry between these two Hyderabadi shuttlers have been cherished by ardent lovers of the sport in the country and draws a huge crowd whenever they face each other. In the national championships in Nagpur earlier this year, the duo faced off in Nagpur where Saina emerged victorious.
Although their rivalry is a much-talked about affair in Indian badminton, very little is known of their relationship outside the court and Sindhu, in Saturday spoke about the same.
“We’re friends, like hi-bye… and that’s it,” she said, while speaking to the Hindustan Times.
“We actually play together during practice but there’s not much time to get interactive and talk to each other because we have our training sessions, so there’s no real time where we can sit and talk.”
Both Sindhu and Saina have a win each in BWF events where they have competed against each other. They have faced each other in the national championships as well as in the Premier Badminton League (PBL). Another Sindhu-Saina clash was on the cards in the PBL opener this year but the latter pulled out because of an injury.
Earlier this year, Saina had returned to the Pullela Gopichand Academy after working with Vimal Kumar.
Talking about their rivalry, Sindhu said, “Rivalry is always there. When you play on court, everybody wants to win, both have the aggression to win. The rivalry is good in a way, everybody has that nowadays.”
The Rio Olympics silver medalist further added, “You just need to play your game and keep going, that’s what I feel and when people talk about rivalry, it is nothing but just a fight in the match — that is required, everyone would do that, it is not a big issue.”
Sindhu is currently playing for the Chennai Smashers in the PBL where Saina is representing the Awadhe Warriors.