India's most successful shuttler at the Summer Olympics is gearing up to add more feathers to her illustrious cap in the lead-up to Paris. Having already won two medals, Sindhu has the chance to become the first female shuttler to win three Olympic medals.
In addition to that, a medal at the Games will also help her become the first Indian to win three medals at the Summer Olympics.
With a place in history at stake, Sindhu is driven to give her dead-level best but at the same time doesn't want to add a lot of pressure on herself.
"I am aiming for a medal, definitely, yes. Whether it's one or two or three, it doesn't matter. I've won two medals and I don't want to take pressure by thinking that, oh, what is the third one," Sindhu was quoted as saying by PTI at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena.
"Every time I play Olympics, it's a new Olympics for me. So every time I go out there, I want to get a medal and hopefully, I will do that hat trick soon."
The world rank No. 13 didn't have enough time to train in Paris and therefore went to Sportcampus Saar in Saarbrucken, Germany where the altitude, climate and conditions are identical to Paris.
To simulate the conditions in Paris, the ace shuttler created a hypoxic chamber (low oxygen) in her room and slept for a few days. Notably, hypoxic chambers help an athlete to sustain and perform at higher altitudes.
"I couldn't go to the high altitude training center. I didn't have much time and obviously, there I couldn't have been playing. So I just thought, it would be good for me instead of going somewhere, getting it here and doing some changes and sleeping that way," she added.
PV Sindhu's draw for Paris Olympics
| Group M |
| PV Sindhu (India) |
| Kristin Kuuba (Estonia) |
| Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq (Maldives) |
How has PV Sindhu performed in 2024 so far?
| Tournament | Position |
| Badminton Asia Team Championships | Won her match (women's singles) in the final (of the team event) against Thailand |
| French Open Super 750 | Lost to Chen Yu Fei in the quarters |
| All England Open Super 1000 | Lost to An Se Young in the round of 16 fixture |
| Swiss Open Super 300 | Lost to Tomoka Miyazaki in the round of 16 fixture |
| Madrid Spain Masters Super 300 | Lost to Supanida Katethong in the quarters |
| Badminton Asia Championship | Lost in the round of 16 to Han Yue |
| Malaysia Masters Super 500 | Lost to Wang Zhi Yi in the finals |
| Singapore Open Super 750 | Lost to Carolina Marin in the round of 16 fixture |
| Indonesia Open Super 1000 | Lost to Wen Chi Hsu in the round of 32 fixture |
Career achievements in women's singles
| Tournament | Position |
| 2016 Rio Olympics | Silver |
| 2020 Tokyo Olympics | Bronze |
| 2013 BWF World Championships | Bronze |
| 2014 BWF World Championships | Bronze |
| 2017 BWF World Championships | Silver |
| 2018 BWF World Championships | Silver |
| 2019 BWF World Championships | Gold |
| 2014 Commonwealth Games | Bronze |
| 2018 Commonwealth Games | Silver |
| 2022 Commonwealth Games | Gold |
