Focus is to get Sindhu back on podium, says new coach Sridhar

New Delhi: P V Sindhu still has the hunger to succeed, and the primary aim is to help her regain consistency, says her new coach Anup Sridhar, who has been appointed by the two-time Olympic medallist on a trial basis following the Paris Games.

Sindhu, who returned from the French capital without a medal for the first time in three Olympics, has been training under Sridhar, a Beijing Olympian, for the past three weeks at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad.

"I spoke with Sindhu's team a few weeks ago, and she has been training under me in Hyderabad since the start of this month. We've made significant progress, and in two weeks, we'll head to tournaments in Europe," said the 41-year-old Sridhar, who also briefly coached Lakshya Sen.

Sindhu lost in the pre-quarterfinals to China's He Bing Jiao at the Paris Games and will restart her BWF World Tour season with the European leg, which includes the $420,000 Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland, (October 8-13), and the $850,000 Denmark Open in Odense.

"I'm taking it week by week," said Sridhar who has been brought on board for the remainder of the season after Indonesian Agus Dwi Santoso's contract ended post-Paris Olympics.

"Since we haven't committed to anything long-term, it's hard to plan for 2025. However, there are a couple of tournaments in 2025 that Sindhu should aim to peak at," he said.

"You can plan for physical peaks, but not for form. I have my eye on a few tournaments next year, but the immediate focus is to enhance her consistency and get her back on the podium -- that's the big goal."

Sindhu last won the Singapore Open and Commonwealth Games in 2022 and finished runner-up at the Madrid Spain Masters in 2023 and the Malaysia Masters Super 500 in May this year.

Reflecting on his run so far, Sridhar, an Arjuna awardee, said: "I've spent this time understanding her situation, and I'm pleased to report that she's completely physically fit, with no signs of aches or pains.

"We've followed our training schedule without missing any sessions. I'm working on helping her unlearn certain things while introducing new elements to her game."

Sindhu suffered a knee injury during the French Open in October last year and returned to competitive play just five months before the Paris Games.

"She faced a tough couple of years with some good results but lacked consistency during that period," Sridhar said.

"In just three weeks, I've noticed decent improvements, but there's still more work to be done," said Sridhar, a 2007 Asian Championships bronze-medallist.

"If we can get her to a level where she's consistently advancing past the early rounds, regardless of her draw or opponent, she'll have a realistic chance of making a strong comeback."

Sridhar said Sindhu has accomplished nearly everything in badminton.

"...yet her hunger remains. She works extremely hard and is a great role model for the rest of India's badminton players."

Sindhu made a series of coaching changes in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics. After clinching a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, her South Korean coach, Park Tae Sang, parted ways with her in early 2023.

Following this, Sindhu traveled with SAI coach Vidhi Chaudhary for a few months before appointing former All England champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim as her new coach.

However, this partnership was short-lived, leading Sindhu to relocate to Bengaluru to train under Prakash Padukone. Padukone's academy, PPBA, then hired Santoso to guide Sindhu through the Olympics.