PV Sindhu is top 5 material: Gopichand

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National coach Pullela Gopichand’s immense faith in P.V. Sindhu as the next big thing in Indian badminton has been well rewarded by his young protege, who not only took the Chinese by storm but also broke into the top-20 in world rankings after her stellar show at the China Masters recently.

Sindhu, who shocked 2012 Olympic champion Li Xuerui 21-19, 9-21, 21-16 in the quarter-finals of the China Masters before going down fighting to Chinese Yanjiao Jiang in the Changzhou event, has taken a big leap in her international career not only in terms of rankings (four places) but as a player as well.

By her own admission, the win over Li was her biggest-ever and she now wants to continue playing well.

“I am extremely happy that I could beat a player of Xuerei’s calibre. She is really a tough nut to break.

But I gave my 100 per cent and played well. I tried to engage her in long rallies and came out with some deceptive shots which eventually helped,” the 17-year-old said on her arrival from Japan.

Sindhu also believes that her capacity to “stay patient” throughout was key to her success.

Coach Gopichand reckons Sindhu’s recent exploits will only encourage her to do better in future. “It was a big win for her (Sindhu), and very encouraging.

But not only Li, she has beaten many other top players. And in her defeats, she had put up a fight. Though there are some areas where she can still improve,” he said.

The way Sindhu has been taking strides and dominated the big guns, Gopichand feels the youngster won’t take much time to reach closer to her senior pro Saina Nehwal.

“I hope both of them go up in the rankings. Sindhu has the potential to break into the top-5,” he said.
The next big assignments for Sindhu are the senior nationals in Srinagar, followed by the world junior championships.