Road ahead for Sindhu only gets tougher; Olympic medal increases responsibility

THE OLYMPIC SILVER MEDAL only increases the responsibility for shuttler PV Sindhu who will have to work harder and achieve more accolades in the future. We must give the due credit and respect and let her enjoy the limelight at present because even she is aware that once back on court everything else will be put aside.

All eyes and expectations were on Saina Nehwal on the eve of Rio Olympics, no surprises here as she won the Bronze medal in London. Everybody expected her to repeat her feat or go for Gold this time. Saina too wished for a Gold medal as this was her best chance to do so.

The 26-year-old wasn't fully fit throughout the year but she gave her best and winning the Australian Super Series title just before Olympics boosted her confidence and increased the expectations.

But the injury came back haunting her as she lost her second group stage match and therefore was out of the Olympics. Sindhu and Srikanth were the under-dogs and nobody expected a medal from them.

Srikanth qualified to the quarters and went down fighting against the mighty Lin Dan. 21-year-old Sindhu was playing in her first Olympics and the Silver medal was more than a cherry on the cake for her.

Defeating World No. 2 Wang Yihan, she set up a clash against World No. 1 in the finals but failed to triumph over Carolina Marin.

Sindhu is ranked 10 and at present she is receiving rewards and appreciation from across the country. She did not take part in the recently concluded Indonesia Grand Prix Gold. The tournaments she is likely to feature in are, Japan Super Series, Korea SS, Denmark Super Series Premier, French SS, China SSP, Hong Kong SS, Macau Grand Prix Gold.

Out of these above mentioned tournaments, Sindhu was runners-up in Denmark last year and is a three-time defending champion at Macau Open. It was in Denmark, where she had defeated Marin in the semis.

She displayed great character and presence of mind playing all her matches at the Olympics. Playing against the best, beating higher ranked players. But one should also remember that it is not possible to always maintain that consistency of defeating the best in the game. Marin got the best out of her in the finals and won her first Gold.

It is a difficult task to beat the likes of Wang Yihan, Li Xuerui, Carolina Marin and then there are also rising shuttlers just like Sindhu, Intanon, Okuhara etc.

Going ahead, the competition will only get tougher.