Expressing happiness over defending the Macau Open, ace shuttler PV Sindhu today hoped to keep the momentum going and continue the successful run in the new year
PV Sindhu
Hyderabad: Expressing happiness over defending the Macau Open, ace shuttler PV Sindhu today hoped to keep the momentum going and continue the successful run in the new year.
PV Sindhu
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"I am happy for having won the Macau Open, at the end of the year. Overall, I have done well (this year). I hope I will get more victories in the coming year," Sindhu told reporters on her return home.
Sindhu expressed delight for having done well in the World Championship and Asian Games this year. As for not being able to clinch a Super Series title, she said it is not always the same every time.
"It is not the same game every time. It depends on that day. I wish I will get that (Super Series Title) one day," she said. Sindhu underlined that she would need to put in hard work to take on tough players in the increasingly competitive international circuit, noting that several shuttlers from Japan and South Korea, besides China, are doing very well.
Sindhu said she would play in the Syed Modi Tournament and other important events next year, which will also be the Olympics qualifying year. To a question, she said shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal, had different styles of playing against top-ranked shuttlers from China and other countries.
Meanwhile, Chief National Coach P Gopichand was also happy that Sindhu was able to round off the year with a win. Noting that different countries are trying hard to do
well in international competition, he said Indians cannot afford to relax and warned against complacency.
"Many young (Indian) players are playing well. Several countries are trying hard. If we relax, we don't win next year," Gopichand said. Asked if it put extra pressure on him as a coach to deliver in the wake of star shuttler Saina Nehwal moving out of his Academy, Gopichand said: "I think I look at it that we as a country have a bunch of players now who have a good chance of performing at the world level.
For me, it is important that we start hunting as a team and get the results as many as possible. That's what I look for." "I think I have always put pressure on myself," he said.
Sindhu, currently ranked world number 11, lifted her first title of the season by successfully defending the USD 120,000 Macau Grand Prix Gold trophy after seeing off Kim Hyo Min of Korea in the women's singles finals, on Sunday last.
The 19-year-old shuttler is a two-time World Championship bronze medallist and bagged the bronze in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games as well.