NEW DELHI: In order to be prepared for the Paris Games, where she will be vying for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic medal , Ind...
NEW DELHI: In order to be prepared for the Paris Games, where she will be vying for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic medal, Indian badminton star PV Sindhu has spared no effort, from training in a hypoxic chamber to sparring with a variety of opponents to adjust to diverse styles.
Although Sindhu's performance has been inconsistent lately, she believes she has the confidence to win a hat-trick of medals because of her eight months of coaching with Prakash Padukone.
With a podium finish, Sindhu will undoubtedly become India's best athlete. No Indian player has ever won three Olympic medals in a row.
"I am aiming for a medal, definitely, yes. Whether it's one or two or three, it doesn't matter. I've won two medals and I don't want to take pressure by thinking that, oh, what is the third one," she said after a training session at Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris, as per PTI.
"Every time I play Olympics, it's a new Olympics for me. So every time I go out there, I want to get a medal and hopefully, I will do that hat-trick soon."
In the previous two Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, respectively, Sindhu had taken home silver and bronze.
Sindhu received her training at Sportcampus Saar in Saarbrucken, Germany, which is comparable to the French city in terms of altitude, climate, and circumstances, before moving to Paris.
There, she set up a low-oxygen chamber in her room and spent a few days sleeping. Hypoxic chambers aid in preparing the body of an athlete for higher altitude environments.
"I couldn't go to the high altitude training center. I didn't have much time and obviously, there I couldn't have been playing. So I just thought, it would be good for me instead of going somewhere, getting it here and doing some changes and sleeping that way," she explained.
Because of this training, athletes feel prepared to meet any challenge that comes their way, even if the circumstances call for their all.
During the lengthy rallies, Sindhu claimed to have become more consistent and to have improved her strokes.
"Being much more confident in strokes," she replied when asked what difference she finds after training with Padukone.
"In women's singles now, there are a lot of long rallies and long matches, being consistent. I am confident in that now," she said.
"With every opponent, it's a different style and, you need to play the right stroke at the right time. And that's what Prakash sir also keeps saying. We've been working on that. And that's almost there. There's a lot of improvement. You will see that on court."
The 29-year-old also talked about her training regimen in Germany, where she competed against two opponents at a time and sparred with a variety of competitors.
"Saarbrücken training was really good. I was there for almost a couple of weeks and I got my own sparring partners as well. I got an opportunity to train with different people. One was like a left-hander and one was an attacking player, a rally player.
"And I had a Nigerian guy, who also was sparring with me. And one was a German singles player who was also playing with me for a couple of days."
Although Sindhu was an experienced player competing in the Tokyo Games, she was the underdog at the 2016 Olympics.
Talking about her journey, Sindhu said: "I've experienced two different kinds of Olympics where, in one, a lot of people shouted and cheered, but there was no pressure. In the second one, there were a lot of responsibilities and pressure, everybody wanted you to get a medal, but there was no crowd.
"But now it's a mixture of both (in Paris). I'm hoping for the best medal to come out there."
Source
#Paris #Olympics #Sindhu #eyeing #hattrick #medals #Paris #Olympics #News #Times #India
[ad_1]Although Sindhu's performance has been inconsistent lately, she believes she has the confidence to win a hat-trick of medals because of her eight months of coaching with Prakash Padukone.
With a podium finish, Sindhu will undoubtedly become India's best athlete. No Indian player has ever won three Olympic medals in a row.
"I am aiming for a medal, definitely, yes. Whether it's one or two or three, it doesn't matter. I've won two medals and I don't want to take pressure by thinking that, oh, what is the third one," she said after a training session at Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris, as per PTI.
"Every time I play Olympics, it's a new Olympics for me. So every time I go out there, I want to get a medal and hopefully, I will do that hat-trick soon."
In the previous two Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, respectively, Sindhu had taken home silver and bronze.
Sindhu received her training at Sportcampus Saar in Saarbrucken, Germany, which is comparable to the French city in terms of altitude, climate, and circumstances, before moving to Paris.
There, she set up a low-oxygen chamber in her room and spent a few days sleeping. Hypoxic chambers aid in preparing the body of an athlete for higher altitude environments.
"I couldn't go to the high altitude training center. I didn't have much time and obviously, there I couldn't have been playing. So I just thought, it would be good for me instead of going somewhere, getting it here and doing some changes and sleeping that way," she explained.
Because of this training, athletes feel prepared to meet any challenge that comes their way, even if the circumstances call for their all.
During the lengthy rallies, Sindhu claimed to have become more consistent and to have improved her strokes.
"Being much more confident in strokes," she replied when asked what difference she finds after training with Padukone.
"In women's singles now, there are a lot of long rallies and long matches, being consistent. I am confident in that now," she said.
"With every opponent, it's a different style and, you need to play the right stroke at the right time. And that's what Prakash sir also keeps saying. We've been working on that. And that's almost there. There's a lot of improvement. You will see that on court."
The 29-year-old also talked about her training regimen in Germany, where she competed against two opponents at a time and sparred with a variety of competitors.
"Saarbrücken training was really good. I was there for almost a couple of weeks and I got my own sparring partners as well. I got an opportunity to train with different people. One was like a left-hander and one was an attacking player, a rally player.
"And I had a Nigerian guy, who also was sparring with me. And one was a German singles player who was also playing with me for a couple of days."
Although Sindhu was an experienced player competing in the Tokyo Games, she was the underdog at the 2016 Olympics.
Talking about her journey, Sindhu said: "I've experienced two different kinds of Olympics where, in one, a lot of people shouted and cheered, but there was no pressure. In the second one, there were a lot of responsibilities and pressure, everybody wanted you to get a medal, but there was no crowd.
"But now it's a mixture of both (in Paris). I'm hoping for the best medal to come out there."
COMMENTS