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I will go to any extent for my daughter: Sindhu’s father

Today if Sindhu has won four medals in World Championship and two medals in Olympics, Ramana has taken a few calculated risks while giving the best facilities to his daughter.

By N Jagannath Das

Published Date - 2 August 2021, 07:02 PM

I will go to any extent for my daughter: Sindhu’s father — Tokyo: India's Pusarla V. Sindhu poses for photographs while standing on the podium after receiving the bronze medal in women's singles badminton event at the Summer Olympics 2020

Hyderabad: Former International volleyball player PV Ramana is a no-nonsense man and a massive strength behind PV Sindhu’s spectacular show in international tournaments. Today if Sindhu has won four medals in World Championship and two medals in Olympics, Ramana has taken a few calculated risks while giving the best facilities to his daughter.

“She is my lovely daughter. She is the girl who never says no and listens to what I say. She is a calm going girl. When I scold, she is upset for a few minutes and comes back to normalcy. That is Sindhu for you,’’ he said while talking to N Jagannath Das of Telangana Today.

On being angry and monitoring her game from childhood

I only get angry when she makes mistakes on the court. I always keep a close eye on her game. But I am also careful as I think I should not give too many instructions now that she is 26 years old. I only tell how to go about with her game. She never complains to her mother as she believes in me whenever I shout at her. She has the confidence in me as whatever I have done in the last so many years she has got the fruit of it.

On being too strict

What is wrong if I am strict? But there is a motive and commonsense approach. I’m a sportsperson. I know how to handle it and I do a lot of research before taking my next step.

On the move to practice at Gachibowli Stadium

I always felt playing in Gachibowli Stadium would benefit a player. Many would dismiss my theory. So I thought playing in Gachibowli Stadium before the Tokyo Olympics would be the best thing for Sindhu. For instance Sai Praneeth wanted to practice without the A/Cs. But on coach Park Tae-sang and I thought Sindhu should practice in A/C for the drift. That would prove beneficial in Tokyo.

On Korean coach Park

Park changed Sindhu’s game to a large extent, whether it was dribbles, net play. If in Tokyo, it was a different Sindhu where she showed a lot of patience and played with a variety of strokes it is because of Park. She used to lose points in defence. He concentrated on this aspect for one month. That is where I liked it. He clearly told Sindhu not to lose patience or get irritated. You could see a quiet Sindhu in this Olympics.

On the Sindhu being referred as Pusarla instead of Sindhu on TVs

Since her full name is Sindhu Venkata Pusarla and the family being the last letter, BWF puts that as Pusarla.

On how she reacted after losing to Tai Tzu Ying

She cried and she was upset. Tai played a very clever game. Now we need to focus more on the dribbles, cross smashes and drop shots. We have to be patient. In this Olympics you might have seen Sindhu playing more drive shots. No one knew about this. I believe in Park, who will continue to coach Sindhu. I do discuss with Park, I just suggest him and he nods in agreement. If she was emotionally upset on Saturday night, she was all excited on Sunday.

On Praveen and Pradeep Raju contribution

From 2017 she virtually shifted to Suchitra Academy because she did not want to miss a single day of practice due to Covid-19 pandemic. They built a room and made all the arrangements. Strength and conditioning coach Srikant Verma worked passionately towards Sindhu’s fitness.

Do you take risk for his daughter’s training and criticism

People say I talk a lot. I will go to any extent for my daughter. I will see that she gets the best facilities. Since there were moves to bring her down in the last few years, they are not aware that Ramana is also an international player.