UPDATED: July 10, 2021 04:37 IST
Photo by Bandeep Singh
Five years ago, P.V. Sindhu’s silver medal at the Rio Games was the saving grace of India’s otherwise dismal campaign. Back then, the shuttler was the underdog; this time around, she is the reigning World Champion. For Operation Rio, Sindhu switched off her phone for months; Mission Tokyo is “completely the opposite”, she says with a laugh. She has her phone by her side, but not coach Pullela Gopichand. That role is now played by South Korea’s former shuttler, Park Tae-sang. “Change is not compulsory but it is good,” she says about the switch. “Every coach offers a new mindset and game style.” In the many interviews she has given in the run-up to the Olympics, she appears at ease and sure of her abilities. Winning does that to an athlete. “I am more confident,” she tells india today. But will it be enough for her to become only the second Indian athlete, after the now infamous wrestler Sushil Kumar, to wi