Indian badminton star PV Sindhu said her trip to England has helped her up her fitness levels during the shutdown of sport in the pandemic-affected year.
The 25-year-old shuttler has spent the last few weeks in London working with sports nutritionist Rebecca Randell of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute. While in the country, she has also been training with Badminton England’s Toby Penty and Rajiv Ouseph at the National Training Centre.
She said the stint has helped her prepare for next year’s Asia leg of the Badminton World Federation’s calendar.
“I’ve been a part of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute for four years. Each time I come to England, my schedule is really, really packed and sometimes it’s just not possible to meet the nutrition team, so that’s why I am here. I think this is a good time for me and I’ve now taken the time out to look after my nutrition and work with the team on body analysis too,” she told the Badminton World Federation in an interview.
In October, her father PV Ramana said that she had gone to England because her practice was not proper at the ongoing national camp in Hyderabad. However, Sindhu later clarified that she had no issues with coach Pullela Gopichand.
Talking about training in England she said, “I did not want to stop my training [while in England]. Badminton is restarting for me in January,” she said.
The training experience in England is a different one for the Olympic silver medallist.
“It’s a different kind of feeling here. Different places to train, it’s something new and I am learning new things. Every player has a different game. They have different mindsets and I take different approaches from coaches and players. One player might say my defence is weak and Raj would say ‘Ok, this is what you need to do,’ so it’s really good to get that perspective,” she added.