With Sai Praneeth out of the Olympics, India’s medal hopes rest with the women’s contingent, particularly with P.V. Sindhu.
As India’s first Olympian in badminton, having participated in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, former national badminton champion Vimal Kumar brings much-needed perspective for the current crop of shuttlers.
In a candid chat with sports broadcaster Sreeduth S Pillai, filmed before the Olympics began, Kumar warned that the athletes had already been placed under tremendous stress due to Japan’s conditions on athletes.
“The athletes have gone through a lot of stress, so it is very important for the organising committee to make it stress free for the athlete. They cannot put them through any more of these hassles—two days quarantine, then you don’t do quarantine, then you are tested again. Every athlete going into the Olympic Games, they are fit, they have taken their two doses of the vaccine as per prescribed norms, everything they have done. They have done that, that’s why they have gone to Tokyo. When they are there, it is up to the organising committee to make sure things are simpler for them,” he says.
Kumar says he is confident in Sindhu, saying she is used to playing on the big stage.
“Sindhu is used to …one of the most consistent Indian players in the world in the big stage,” he says. “Sindhu is our best medal prospect,” he adds.
His advice to the Indian contingent is that they keep their perspective—the Games could not have happened at all, but they did. They should be thankful that they could still compete at the Olympics, he adds.
