Pullela Gopichand, a former badminton champion, believed PV Sindhu to be the best female athlete India has ever produced. On August 8, Sindhu defeated Michelle Li of Canada 21-15, 21-13 at the NEC Badminton Show Court to claim the gold medal in the women's singles competition for the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Gopichand believed that the physically fit athletes in the women's sports community include the 27-year-old Sindhu. The veteran praised Sindhu as the best female athlete competing on Indian soil and said that she had significantly improved her game.
"I definitely think so. She has been a consistent performer at the international level, especially at the big events, for the last decade or so. She has put in some phenomenal performances and the Commonwealth gold makes it a very glittering career for her," Gopichand was quoted as saying to India Today.
"I think overall as an athlete, she is one of the strongest, physically. Over the time, her range of strokes has grown and also she has been able to run down many opponents. The length of the rally, the speed at which the rally is played and also the power in her strokes makes it quite a combination to have. Not many in the badminton world in the women's circuit have that kind of level," he stated.
Gopichand added that if Sindhu can maintain her form over the next two years, she is one of the best candidates to win a medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Apart from a few opponents, he said Sindhu shouldn't have many difficulties defeating the others.
With Paris not too far away, the form she now possesses makes her a legitimate Games contender. She does have to fight against some athletes, such as Chen Yu Fei and Tai Tzu Ying, but overall, based on the way she has been playing, she will undoubtedly be a strong candidate for a medal in Paris.
