i doubt her footwork will ever be 'smooth' because of her height. the important aspect to footwork is to utilize the correct footwork. her footwork is correct. using chen long as a model, due to their similar height, is off base because the female and male muscles are different. they develop differently due to hormones. if pv were to start injecting testosterone, well then, yeah, her leg muscles could become similar in mass and characteristic to a male. then she would have a lower center of gravity due to the weight of her leg muscles. after all the training/fitness/practice an athlete goes through you can only do what your body allows you to do.
obviously mental toughness grows w/ experience. i think fans expect an athlete to be 100% focused throughout a match. no athlete in any sport maintains 100% focus during a match. it's impossible. even lin dan, regarded as the greatest in terms of focus (and everything else ), will have a brain fart at the wrong time. for pvs it will come. she's way ahead of the curve right now. there's an upside to her losing today... she'll remain hungry for the hunt! her best days are ahead and i can't wait to watch.
"It was anybody's game. Of course, it is upsetting to lose because from the first set each point was really important for both of us, and even though she was leading it was never over from either side. There were very long rallies and even she was not leaving any shuttles. Each point was equally tough, but in the third game when it was 20-20 it was anybody's game, I felt. I have no words. It's been really upsetting because anybody would aim for the gold, and that last moment just changed everything. I'm happy with silver, but that feeling is always there." On her opponent "Well, she was never easy but each time we play against each other, as I said, it's never easy. This was a tough game with tough rallies going on, and we never left any shuttle from either side. I never took her easy. I was prepared for the match to be really long, but unfortunately I lost. It wasn't my day." On the 73-shot rally in the second game "I don't feel that particular rally was a big rally. Every rally was equally long and there were too many shots from both sides. She was tired, I was tired but still we were falling this side and that. Overall, it was a good match. I just have to say this. It was a good match, but just not my day." On the physical challenge of such long rallies "I think when it came to the third game, both of us didn't leave [anything] because it's a World Championships match. Each point was equally important ... it was like 13-12, 13-13, 14-13, 14-14 ... so we were both really fighting hard. I always believed in myself, that I could do it. I think from her side she too would have believed in herself. After 20-20 you never know, and it was anybody's game." On two Indian women finishing on the podium "We as Indians are really proud because we've brought two medals for the country in the women's singles. Of course, Saina did really well too. I will settle for silver, am really proud." On Okuhara's stamina "I think both us, mentally and physically, were really tough. I knew that she was not going to leave. Coming to her fitness, I think Japanese players are always stronger; those long tosses, slow drops. So I was prepared for it. Even though I was down in the third set, I came back feeling that I could do it. After 11 points in the third set I knew that she could do it, and that there weren't going to be many longer rallies." SINDHU'S INTERVIEW AFTER THE MATCH
hopefully they will come back stronger both sindhu and saina and of course our men's singles squad to achieve better in future.
Obviously there are physical differences between men and women, but Sindhu's footwork can improve. Consider that Chen Long is even taller than Sindhu so the fact that his footwork is so good for his height says a lot. I suppose if you must use another woman with similar height to Sindhu, Wang Yihan comes to mind. Wang Yihan is the same height as Sindhu but Wang Yihan has better footwork and balance than Sindhu as well. There is room for improvement for Sindhu and if I were the coach, this is something I would work on to make her a better player.
I was quite surprised PV did not stamp herself over Okuhara in that first game. I didn't notice many of her cross court smashes. However, I do think she gave 110% and more. She is very, very, very fit. Fitter perhaps compared to some of the guys. It was a match that could have gone either way. Great for the fans. She just misses out this time but she will be back. I think the good thing is we don't hear of her having injuries unlike some other players.
Sindhu played an amazing game and it was probably one of the best WS matches I've watched in quite a while. I feel that Sindhu's stamina and her preference for an all out attacking game in the first set cost her later on. She's no Chen Long or Viktor Axelsen and just can't/shouldn't play too aggressively against a superb defending player like Okuhara. Honestly, this was quite a sad match to watch as Sindhu definitely had it in her to take the gold.
she was leading in the first game with quite a good margin, then again in the second allowed okuhara to catch up after having a three points lead I guess, she led all the way in the third and okuhara kept on coming back.
Okuhara kept playing to her deep forehand corner which was disadvantageous for Sindhu. I think Sindhu should have played to different areas of the court in order to stop her from playing those deadly dropshots.
This is what made it so fascinating. You think PV got the edge in the games and then Okuhara comes back. That is very very taxing on the mind. Okuhara only played overheads to the forehand side because PV's overhead from the backhand area is a killer shot.....Until the third game when PV started to slow.
1 lakh = 100,000 rupees. 1,000,000 rupees for pv 500,000 rupees for saina perform all other conversions here: https://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/
Sindhu's footwork is great, and if she would enhance even further that aspect, perhaps she could look at CM. But every player's rythme and balance is different. Overall, I don't think Sindhu can progress much there. When meeting a NO with good legs it is difficult to see where she can do better then last night. Smashing and dropping is not so easy when the rhythm is so high. Perhaps she could be a little bit better at the net and it would have make the difference.
Anyone knows exactly what she's eating/drinking in the middle of the match? Is that a protein bar or something?
If you want to know, Sindhu got around 13 crore ruppees in Cash Prize for her Rio Olympics silver medal. And that too only cash! Other perks included plots of land given by two different states of India, some cars etc. Overall, her cash prize was around 2 million USD. AND, the plots of land would easily be worth another 2 million USD. Other stuff would all add up to perhaps half a million USD. So, this is just gifts of 4.5 million USD. There is no count on how much money she would be getting from sponsors.
Is there no one else who declared prizes? Telangana Government and Andhra Government usually fight a big battle to take credit.
