PV Sindhu's bronze medal win at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday sent waves of happiness among her family members as she became the first Indian woman to win two individual medals at the Olympics. Speaking with NDTV, Sindu's father PV Ramana said Sindhu dictated the pace of her bronze-medal clash against China's He Bing Jiao that helped her win in straight games. Ramana also lauded Sindhu's coach Park Tae-Sang for helping Sindhu change her attitude towards the game. "I am so glad. This is the highest achievement for a woman athlete in the Olympics - winning back-to-back medals. This is the hard work which she has put in this five years," Sindhu's father PV Ramana told NDTV.
"It's not that easy to come out of a loss. You're not in a good mood because you have lost but we had given her some motivational words to just forget that (loss)," said Sindhu's father about Sindhu's loss in the semifinal just 24 hours before winning the medal.
"She dictated the pace. She never allowed He Bing Jiao to come to her original game. That really helped Sindhu to just win in two sets," Ramana added.
On Sindhu's coach Park Tae-Sang, her father said: "He is such a nice person. He is so committed. He gave tips to Sindhu before going for the tournament.
"Sindhu (used to) get angry and lose her focus on the match. 15 days before leaving for the Olympics, I was listening to him (Tae-Sang) and he was telling 'Sindhu, let the point go. I want you to be focused, be calm and play your game'.
"And that really helped Sindhu. Earlier she used to lose her patience and her attitude used to be... she used to change her attitude and lose the points, but the way Park has given her tips you have seen a drastic change in defence and dribblings. This has helped Sindhu play at the highest level of sport."
PV Vidya, Sindhu's sister, spoke about how her father motivated the young shuttler to forget about her semifinal loss to Tai Tzu-Ying and focus on the upcoming match.
"She was a bit disappointed after her match yesterday, but when she called us, my dad spoke to her and told her some mistake of hers which she corrected very well in today's match," said Vidya.
"We asked her to forget what had happened yesterday and to treat it as a new day today and play with a positive attitude."