NEW DELHI: Spain star Carolina Marin might have been ruled out of the Tokyo Olympics but ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu knows that she still cannot take it easy considering the stiff competition she has to face in the upcoming Games.
Rio 2016 Olympic badminton champion Marin on Tuesday had announced that she has torn the ACL on her left knee, and as a result, she would be undergoing surgery later this week. Sindhu had tasted defeat in a classic encounter against Marin in the 2016 Olympics and recently in the Swiss Open final in March.
“Well I don’t think so because you know in the women’s circuit, top 1 to 10 are of the same standards. You can’t take it easy if one player is out due to injury,” said Sindhu while replying to an ANI query during a virtual interaction organised by SAI.
“If you see there are a couple of really really good players. So you can’t take it easy, you can’t say that since one player is not there it might be easy because everybody would be preparing for the Olympics and everybody would want to give their 100 per cent and will be in full form,” she added.
The Indian shuttler said she has to keep on working hard and be focused to give her best in the Tokyo Olympics. “So I think from my side, I have to keep working hard, I can’t relax and take it easy and for me, it is one step at a time. I need to be just focused and give my best,” said Sindhu.
India shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth’s slim chances of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics ended last week after Badminton World Federation (BWF) confirmed that no further tournaments will be played inside the qualifying window. Answering another query from ANI, Sindhu said she felt sad after knowing that Saina and Srikanth have to miss out on Olympics this year.
“We are in a situation that you never know what’s going to happen, like when are the tournaments going to get cancelled and when are they going to happen. It’s not only for us, it’s for every player across the globe,” said Sindhu.
“So we can’t think that if we would have played a particular tournament we would have qualified or been selected because I’m sure they might be having their own personal rankings and the tournaments they wanted to play. But in these times we cannot do anything about that.
“Obviously if they would have been selected it would have been good for our Indian contingent as so many Indian players are going in Tokyo Olympics. I’m sad that they are not selected,” she added.
The Indian shuttler pointed out that life comes first and hence for the safety and benefit of the athletes the tournaments got cancelled.
“We didn’t know we would be in such a situation when COVID started. We got into lockdown and tournaments got cancelled. Even the organisers — the Badminton Association and BWF guys –are really trying hard to make it happen,” said Sindhu.
“At the end of the day, life comes first. So in these times we have to be safe and that’s why for the safety of athletes the tournaments had got cancelled,” she added. According to BWF, while the qualification period officially closes on June 15, as per the Revised Tokyo 2020 qualification system, the current Race To Tokyo rankings list will not change. (ANI)
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