No rift with family, Gopichand: Sindhu

New Delhi, October 20

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Badminton world champion PV Sindhu has clarified that she has left the national camp in Hyderabad and landed in London with the consent of her family and coaches. Sindhu said she is in London to work on her nutrition and recovery needs, denying reports of her falling out with her family or coaches. However, her father has spoken about her dissatisfaction with the national camp in Hyderabad.

The 2016 Olympics silver-medallist has been in London for the last 10 days and posted a picture with sports nutritionist Rebecca Randell of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), her training base, on social media on Monday.

A news report today claimed that Sindhu left the country “due to tensions in her family”. “I came to London a few days back to work on my nutrition and recovery needs with GSSI. In fact I have come here with the consent of my parents and absolutely they (sic) were no family rifts in this regard,” Sindhu wrote on Twitter today, adding: “Why will I have problems/issues with my parents who have sacrificed their lives for my sake? Mine is a very close knitted family and they will always support me. I am in touch with my family members everyday.”

Sindhu is preparing for the Asian leg of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) calendar, scheduled in January next year. She said being in London gives her a chance to prepare for it.

Problems?

Her father PV Ramana, however, said that her move was a result of training “not happening properly at the camp in Hyderabad”, and that she was not happy with training at the national camp.

“Her practice was not happening properly here. After the 2018 Asian Games, Gopi (chief coach Pullela Gopichand) didn’t take interest in her training. He didn’t provide a proper practice partner to train with her,” he said. “She was not having enough quality practice and was fed up with the treatment.”

Gopichand refused to respond to Ramana’s remarks. “I don’t want to respond to what her father has to say, if Sindhu says something, I will respond,” he said.

Sindhu has been part of the national camp for Olympics hopefuls and has been training with her Korean coach, Park Tae Sang, ever since Kim Ji Hyun resigned last year.

Sindhu said there were no problems between her Gopichand. “Also I do not have any issues with my coach Mr Gopichand or the training facilities at the academy,” Sindhu wrote.

Ramana said Sindhu had informed the Badminton Association of India (BAI) regarding her trip to London and had also kept Gopichand in the loop. He also said Sindhu would will be practising with the England team. — PTI