PV Sindhu she is the queen of badminton who has reached heights that no Indian has reached.
The Indian badminton The star won the crown of the world champion, two Olympic medals and dozens of other titles – all under the supervision of excellent coaches.
From its first coach Mahboob Ali to its current coach Park Tae-Sang, PV Sindhu has been under the aegis of some of the best in the industry.
Here are the coaches who shaped PV Sindhu’s career.
PV Sindhu’s first trainer: Mahboob Ali
PV Sindhu took her first badminton lessons from her late coach Mahboob Aliwho also coached Olympic medalist Saina Nehwal and world championship medalist Jwala Gutt.
Seeing their daughter’s interest in sports, PV Sindhu’s parents enrolled her for her first formal training at Mahboob Ali Badminton Academy in Secunderabad.
Mahboob Ali, a junior national medalist, instilled all the qualities of a sports star in PV Sindhu early on.
“From an early age, she was a very attentive listener. He will accept any information he receives from the coaches. She was only eight years old when she started playing and practiced for hours,” said Ramana, father of PV Sindhu Telangana today.
After Mahboob Ali, PV Sindhu also trained under former National Chief Badminton Coach and Dronacharya award winner SM Arif at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium. These early teachings proved crucial in shaping Sindhu’s career.
“I think the first years under Mehboob sir and SM Arif have laid a solid foundation,” Ramana said.
The dominance begins under coach Pullela Gopichand
Thanks to the strong foundation provided by her first trainers, PV Sindhu was placed under the wings of her inspiration Pullela Gopichand at Gachibowli Stadium.
Sindhu first showed interest in the sport after Gopichand won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001.
Under the watchful eye of Pullela Gopichand, PV Sindhu turned from a badminton-loving kid into a winning champion.
But it had its price.
Sindhu and her father traveled more than 50 km from their home in Marredpally every day to attend training sessions in Gachibowli.
“Sindhu started crying whenever I asked her to leave a training session,” her father revealed. “It became tedious because we had to get up at 3:30 in the morning and rush to the academy. I had to go back to the office which was in Secunderabad.”
The dedication soon paid off as the Sindhu-Gopichand duo began to dominate 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 juniors in both singles and doubles.
After conquering India, Sindhu and Gopichand turned their eyes to overseas territories.
The young girl from Hyderabad won a bronze medal in her international debut at the 2009 Asian Junior Badminton Championships.
Although Sindhu continues to play at the junior level, she also made her senior India Open debut in 2009. Two years later, Gopichand led the 15-year-old to her first senior title at the 2011 Maldives International Challenge.
While the teenager was still climbing the career ladder, Gopichand’s second protégé Saina Nehwal was already a world-class force and even won an Olympic bronze medal in 2012.
Twelve years earlier, Pullela Gopichand had lost in the quarterfinals of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. After Saina’s bronze medal, Coach Gopichand thought his dream had come true and he should quit the sport.
“When we won this medal in 2012, I thought it was over. I felt I had had enough of it,” said Gopichand olympics.com.
But Gopichand survived knowing that there was a wonderful PV Sindhu who could reach even greater heights.
The decision bore fruit in the years to come as Sindhu won medals at the World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
History of Sindhu-Gopi scripts in Rio
With coach Gopichand alongside PV Sindhu, she did one better than Saina Nehwal in 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 final of the Olympic Games in Rio, the campaign catapulted PV Sindhu to the upper echelons of badminton.
