People commend P.V. Sindhu for
her effort and valor displayed during the Olympics, but little do they know
about her strict regime detailed by her coach, Gopichand and his sacrifices.
Sindhu has been training with
Gopichand since she was 8. He said Sindhu is extremely dedicated to the sport
and they have about 3-4 training sessions per day, each using up over a
thousand shuttles. Gopichand is a fitness freak, but he was thinking of Sindhu
when he lay off carbohydrates for 3 months. He did this to make himself a better
sparring partner for Sindhu. Her training team consists of Gopichand, and two fitness
trainers. While Gopichand oversees her game, the trainers take care of her
stamina and endurance.
Her austere coach has banned her from eating
her favourite foods such as chocolate and biriyani and is kept up to date on
her schedule for the day. He is well informed of what she eats, how much she
sleeps and her training daily. However much dedicated Sindhu is to badminton,
Gopichand is even more dedicated to training her. He wakes up at 2am everyday
to go over videos of her previous matches to analyse her errors and to help her
combat them. Also very aware of doping scandals during the Olympics, he makes
sure she doesn’t touch food and water from outside and eats with Gopichand
only.
It is only with committed trainers
like him, that Indians are shining in the arena of international sports.