Approaching her 18th birthday, a "more aggressive" P V Sindhu has her eyes trained on the upcoming World Championships, though she says defence is something that needs fine-tuning.
"My sytle of play is more aggressive now though I am working on my defence," Sindhu said. "I am looking forward to doing well in the Championship," said the shuttler from Hyderabad who is just one shy of breaking into the top-10 world rankings for the first time in her career.
P V Sindhu
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The World Championships is slated to be held in Guangzhou, China from August 5 to 11. Sindhu, who will be turning a year older on July 5, said she missed a couple of tournaments this year in order to give her injured knee time to heal. "I missed two tournaments (Thailand and Indonesia) due to my knee injury.
I don't want to aggravate it just to get fit for the prestigious World Championship," she said during the PSPB awards ceremony here today. Sindhu had won the Malaysian Open and reached the semifinals of India Open this year. Doubles specialist Jwala Gutta, who is returning from an injury layoff, said it will take some time before results start to come.
"It will take some time before results start to come. I am making a comeback after a six-month injury layoff and it will take some time for me before getting back to the rhythm. At the moment, I am fit," Jwala said.
Asked about the upcoming World Championship, Jwala said, "I won't be playing in it. I have changed my playing partner and my entry for the championship was with (V) Diju. But I am partnering someone else." It may be noted that Jwala has decided to partner Prajkta Sawant and Manu Atri for future tournaments. Also she doesn't have enough ranking points to qualify for the championship as her injury has affected her world ranking.
On the occasion, www.pspb.in website was launched for the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board employed sportspersons who can keep a track of their progress and also know about future events. Asked about the upcoming IBL, Jwala said, "I am very excited about it. The auction is happening on July 19 and I am looking forward to it."
B C Tripathi, PSPB president and GAIL chairman said, "PSPB supports over 600 sportspersons in 15 disciplines. We have always taken pride in supporting the spirit of sportspersons. We are happy to recognise the efforts of our athletes and honouring them for their achievements for the last three years. We will continue to support them," he said.
Saina Nehwal, Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid could not make it to the event. 150 sportspersons were honoured at the 10th PSPB awards function here today. Cash awards for approximately 2.4 crores for three years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 were presented.
Among the sportspersons to be honoured were current and former national champions and internationals in various sports like badminton, billiards and snooker, chess, cricket, golf, hockey, shooting, tennis, table tennis, volleyball, basketball.
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