Country can emerge as sports superpower: PV Sindhu

Hyderabad: Two-time Olympic medallist and Padma Bhushan Awardee PV Sindhu addressed 250 officials of the All-India Services and Military Engineer Services from across the country, who are attending their foundation course at the Dr MCR HRD Institute.

In her interactive session, Sindhu stated that the country has great potential to emerge as a sports superpower on account of the availability of an extremely large talent pool. "However, in order to achieve this cherished goal, efforts should be made at grassroots level to inspire school children to participate in sports in huge numbers", she said. 

Sindhu said parents, sports-related organisations and other stakeholders should make a joint effort to encourage children to take to sports at a young age, understand their aptitude, provide them professional guidance, and take care of their physical and mental fitness.

"Participation in different sports, practicing hard, and following dreams are more important than merely chasing medals", she said, adding that sportspersons should learn to celebrate successes, take failures in their strides, and be realistic in setting their professional targets. She said sportspersons should not develop a sense of complacency and, instead, make a deliberate attempt to keep learning their chosen sports. "The need of the hour is to understand the playing styles of their opponents and change their own strategies accordingly", she added.

PV Ramana, father of Sindhu, who was himself an eminent volleyball player, said while Sindhu did exceptionally well in badminton, she was equally interested in her studies too and successfully pursued BCom and MBA.

E Damodar IPS (retd), former IGP, said humility is the defining characteristic of Sindhu's personality, despite receiving an array of national and international awards. He said even though the civil servants may reach commanding heights of success during their professional career, humility should continue to be the key hallmark of their personalities. Harpreet Singh, DG of the Institute and Special Chief Secretary, said credit for professional success of Sindhu should entirely go to her and her father. He underlined the need for more parents, like him, give a big boost to emergence of successful players.

Singh presented mementos to Sindhu. Divya Parmar, IES, Course Director, Special Foundation Course-2022, presented mementos to Ramana and to Damodar. Prashant Patil, who was the escort officer, conducted proceedings.