10 Reasons why PV Sindhu is consistently failing in International Badminton Ecosystem?
PV Sindhu(Pusrala Venkata Sindhu) amazing talent produced by India in last 3 decades especially when it comes to Female Badminton.
She has been flag bearer for Indian Badminton along with Saina Nehwal where they inspired next generation of badminton players to pick up this sport professionally.
Sindhu has been perfect stalwart for India and she deserve all credit for the way she has transformed the way Indian Badminton is operated at the moment.
Her form of late have been significant worry for India as she is consistently failing in International Badminton Ecosystem
Her last event being Sudhirman Cup where she failed badly, and ultimately getting knocked out from the tournament.
There is something seriously wrong with PV Sindhu when it comes to her technical aspect of the game let’s decode that in 10 pointers as neutral person to be shared in the below format:
10. Inconsistent Coaching Changes as Player:
Sindhu was an absolute beast in Tokyo 2020, where she bagged bronze medal in the marquee event but post that changing her coach hasn’t helped her lot.
When she worked with Park Tae-Sang in Tokyo 2020 where she won Bronze medal but she let Sang go which seriously made no sense from outside perspective.
She later trained under distinct coaches including the likes of – Hafiz Hashim, Vimal Kumar and Prakash Padukone and we can clearly see result as all these coaches brought distinct style in Sindhu’s game and she failed to adapt even one and results are best way to describe that .
9. Lack of Control in Defensive Game:
When it comes to decoding her defensive Game, where she has lacked control and her defense has become predictable, she has also struggled to return smashes and cross court under extreme pressure has declined.
Her opponents who are top players knew about Sindhu’s weakness and they have begun exploiting her game now.
Her rivals like An Se Young and Tai Tzu Ying have captalialized her vulnerability in rallies where she is already trailing 10 shots behind her rivals.
When it comes to her backcourt game, she faces immense struggle regarding regaining control in trouble.
8. Physical Decline & Injury:
Injuries have majorly depleted her chances especially when it comes to bring best performance in her.
In 2022, she suffered from stress fracture in her foot, which led to her long layoffs in terms of career as player.
Her on court movement have been slowed with time and eventually her speed diminished slightly.
Her ability to reduce her defense into attack is something which has depleted her game post injuries that she succumbed over the years.
7. Predictable One Dimensional Attack: If you look at her One Dimensional attack, it looks pretty one sided where her moves have been predictable as she became too reliant on her powerful smashes with fewer variations(flick shot, disguised flicks and and drop shots)
Her game in offence have become so predictable that her rivals have quickly understood this and began retrieving her smashes quite easily. and her game under pressure is quite easy to read for her rivals now.
She goes for maximum deception which is yielding meager points to her in the game.
6. Tactical Clarity & Low Confidence Issues:
When you closely observe her Tactical Clarity and Confidence which have been pretty low that has perfectly impacted her game.
Her tactical inability in the game have started showcasing on her scorecard where she failed to cross early rounds on most occasions post 2022.
Her confidence have been dropped big time and this can be perfectly understood- She gave close game thriller where she was leading in mid of the game.
She has also missed chances in the game due to mental fatigue.
5. Comparison Pre vs Post (Tokyo Olympics 2020):
Let’s decode her game pre and post Tokyo Olympics 2020 to be shared below in tabular format:
| Factors | Game play during Tokyo 2020 | Game play post 2020 Tokyo Olympics |
| Coaching | Stable | Unstable due to changing Multiple coaches |
| Net Play | Decent | Weak game and predictable too |
| Attack | Fast | Quite slow predicted by Injuries |
| Movement | Powerful | Predictable movements on Court |
| Confidence | High | Low |
4. Reduced Coverage on Court and Limited Speed:
Sindhu’s court coverage have been reduced significantly, which has impacted big time from her transistion from defense to attack, where she is letting opponents take more control in her rallies running for longer duration.
Her rythem have been systematically dismantled now and her late interecept to cross court shots and drives have impacted her game the most.
Limited speed means limited time for her to react in crunch phase of the game so she needs to up this problem otherwise she is lacking big time when it comes to playing shots with great accuracy and precision.
3. Limited Match Exposure Post Injury:
Post her Injury Sindhu have picked and choose tournaments, where she missed several International Tournaments, which will impact their sharpness in the game and ultimately impacted her game.
Her decision making TAT(Turn Around Time) Post Injury have been significantly reduced especially under pressure.
She has also received fewer opportunities to refine fine technicality in her game where she is failing big time to extend pressure over strong opponents and eventually losing in Initial round.
2. Decline in Deception and Shot Variation Techniques:
When you look at current SIndhu game in retrospect to how she used to perform during Tokyo it has become a separate ball entity all together.
When she was in her prime of her life – she used to combine her steep smashes in crunch phase of the game, her deceptive clearance in the game was top notch and her drop shots was another factor describing the beauty of her game.
If you look at Sindhu’s shot variation it has been reduced big time, and opponent have read her predictable game now.
Her Lack of Wrist game play and disguise shots in front foot play game, have decoded her game perfectly for her rivals.
Her opponents on most occasion while playing against Sindhu have stayed calm under control where they significantly reduce her response.
1. Ineffective Use of Front Court Game Play:
If you look at her Front Court Game Play have become quite assertive on net.
Some of the skills including the likes of- Playing net dribbles, hairpin drops and Tight Tumbling shots are some of the skills that Sindhu hasn’t completely developed now which is the biggest drawback in her game.
On most occasion post Tokyo 2020, Opponents against her have mostly dominated the net and eventually she need to work on her game where she is failing to finish ralies early.
Overall Sindhu is once in a lifetime player for India and she can easily overcome all these weakness considering her towering performance in International Badminton Ecosystem.
Sindhu, is again front runner for India when it comes to Los Angeles Olympics if she makes changes in her technical game, mindset and extending her shot selection she can easily churn out medals in the Upcoming Marquee event.
Sindhu, tactical game could be developed as she is already the member of Target Olympics Podium Scheme(Initiative launched by Ministry of Sports where certain athletes in distinct sporting disciplines will be provided with the best of facilities, foreign coaching, tournament exposure so that they are well prepared for any Olympic event)
Sindhu falls in that category, If Indian Government helps Sindhu in that regard where they can provide Psychologist to her where she can make adavancement in her game so that she can improve her tactical decision making especially in the crunch phase of the game where she can work on her front hand and back hand shots so that she can literally dominate any opponents on the given day.
Yes days are gloomy for Sindhu now but as they say “Form is Temporary and Class is Permanent” she will immediately bounce back in times to come all she need is immense self belief and pure confidence in her game.
