I'm Not Young Anymore, But 31 Is The New 21: Sindhu Wants To Stay Fresh For World Tour Finals

Im not young anymore, but 31 is the new 21: Sindhu wants to stay fresh for World Tour Finals (Aichi: Asian Games 2026 - Badminton Women’s Team Quarterfinal)

BWF World Tour Finals:  Two back-to-back final appearances in Paris and Saarbrucken brought PV Sindhu back into peak competitive form, but the two-time Olympic medallist pulled out of the following tournament, a decision Sindhu called purely a case of her body saying, 'I need a break,' keeping in mind the BWF World Tour Finals.

Sindhu was crowned the women’s singles champion at the Hylo Open in Germany, clinching her second title on tour this year after the Japan Open Super 750 in July, which was her first individual crown since December 2024. Overall, she now has seven BWF World Tour titles to her name.

This is the first season since 2022 in which Sindhu has won multiple BWF World Tour titles. The former world champion had also played the final at the French Open before the tournament in Saarbrucken, but lost to world No. 1 and Paris 2024 champion An Se-young of Korea.

Days after her Hylo Open win, Sindhu decided to skip the Korea Open and Japan Masters. She revealed that her initial plan was to play all the tournaments but later decided to listen to her body and to relax and get fit for the BWF World Tour Final, scheduled in December.

"After playing a long tour, I thought that I would not be playing the Korea Open and the following tournaments, but it was important for me to get back and relax at the same time," Sindhu replied to IANS query during a media interaction felicitated by the Badminton Federation of India. "So it was important for me to take care of my body and get fit for the next tournaments. So that was the plan."

"Initially, the plan was okay; I'll be playing other tournaments, but I think it was important for me to take this decision that I would not be playing. It’s important that I need to take care of my body and get back stronger on court again," she explained.

"As I mentioned, I'm not young anymore, but also I mentioned 31 is the new 21, so I need to take care of my body, isn't it?" Sindhu added.

As the new 3×15 scoring system come into effect on January 4, 2027, Sindhu also gave her take on will change the game and and do you her game will suit the new point system, saying the players need to on their toes and stay alert since start to not give away easy points.

"The 15 points is something where definitely everyone should work on and we've been playing 21 for so many years now. So, we accordingly made sure that we train and practise that scoring as well. And at the same time because for everyone it is going to be different, it is also important to stay alert from the beginning," Sindhu said.

She further said, "You cannot have these easy points. These two, three, two points from the beginning – half of the game is over by then. But I think in a 21-point system, there's still time; five points have been done, and then people can come back. But now here, once you get these five or six points, half the game is over. It's important that you have to be alert from the beginning.

"The 15 points is something where definitely everyone should work on and we've been playing 21 for so many years now. So, we accordingly made sure that we train and practise that scoring as well. And at the same time because for everyone it is going to be different, it is also important to stay alert from the beginning," Sindhu said.

Article Source: IANS