P C Thulasi and P V Sindhu during the Manorama Sports Awards function in Kochi.Kochi: The organisers of the Malayala Manorama Sports Awards 2017, which took place at the Regional Sports Centre in Kadavanthra here on Saturday, had a big surprise in store for ace shuttler P V Sindhu, the chief guest at the event.
It was Puthenpurayil Chandrika Thulasi aka P C Thulasi, the first woman from Kerala to win the senior national badminton championship. The two had trained together for several years at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, one of the top nurseries of Indian badminton.
Obviously, they were delighted to meet after almost a year. The two exchanged pleasantries and asked about each other’s well-being and families. Thulasi wished her success and said she was waiting for the day Sindhu becomes world No.1. Sindhu thanked her old friend and hoped that she would be able to do well at the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Before leaving the stage, Thulasi surprised Sindu with an unexpectedly interesting question: “Is there anything that you have found unique about the language Malayalam and your Malayali friends?”
Sindhu’s reply was very eloquent. “Prannoy (shuttler H S Prannoy) is one of my closest friends. Though I don’t speak Malayalam, I could understand quite a bit of the language,” she said.
When the anchor asked her whether she has tried out popular cuisines from Kerala, including the Thalassery biriyani, Sindhu said many of her friends have recommended local biriyani varieties to her.
