PV Sindhu’s Silver Linings Playbook
PV Sindhu knew Nozomi Okuhara was going to make her run. She was prepared if that could’ve fetched her the World Championship gold. No one will fault her for falling short – for India’s most successful shuttler, an exemplary competitor, ran harder than ever, picked some absurdly difficult returns at the net and made it difficult for Nozomi Okuhara to become the World Champion. But at the end of the 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 scoreline that went against her, Sindhu ended with a silver and there was nothing to be said beyond.
Okuhara was playing her third straight 3-setter – she ended the week scalping Carolina Marin, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, all dragging her to a decider. Given she had answers for each of them, the World Champion can safely say she is playing the most complete badminton of her life.
On this day, despite Sindhu’s most valiant attempt to have the last laugh, the Japanese was dictating the direction of play till the end, from the start. In contrast to her strategy against Saina, – pulling her into a lunge at the forecourt, Okuhara laid the classical trap – pushing Sindhu diagonally, back and front. Okuhara remains a mystery without a defined weapon. What she does possess is a varied range of strokes that help her tire out an opponent by make them run ragged at every point of the match.
She’s an endurance machine, but for all the business of body contortion, Okuhara has the ability to remain impossibly still on the court and compose herself for the big points. At the start of the match, she faced a black curtain wall and psyched herself up. On the court, she bowed with respect at the start of every game. “It’s like respect for the court and for the other player. In Japan, we believe badminton and the game’s not just about myself,” she would explain. When the match neared the end, such had been the ebb and flow of perspiration and emotion that the Japanese would tell herself she should just enjoy, because anyone could’ve won. “Fortunately I could enjoy and play my strokes,” she’d add.
Courtesy : indianexpress
