National coach Pullela Gopichand on Tuesday heaped praise on PV Sindhu, who made the country proud by winning silver at the World Badminton Championships, and exuded confidence that the star Indian shuttler will have many gold medals in her cabinet by the end of her career.
The Rio Olympic silver-medallist gave it her all in the breathtaking final of the women's singles event, but she had to eventually settle for the silver at the World Championships held in Glasgow, Scotland.
In a close summit showdown that lasted for one hour and 50 minute, Sindhu lost 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
Addressing a press conference here along with silver medallist Sindhu, on their return from Glasgow, Gopichand said, "The World Championship final was a great match and Sindhu did a great job. At 22, she has big medals under her belt -- three World Championships (bronze in 2013 and 2014, silver in 2017) and a Olympics medal (silver at Rio)."
"Four consecutive years of medals and hopefully she will have a lot many gold in her cabinet at the end of her career," he added.
The national coach further insisted that the World Championships final between Sindhu and Japan's Nozomi Okuhara---the second longest match in the history of women's singles--- was one of the best matches of world badminton and tested the fitness levels of both the shuttlers.
"It was another level of fitness which we saw at the World Championships final -- a high pressure match. One hour 50 minutes of really intense battle where each player never got a clear lead, so nothing much to experiment. You are always under pressure, that is what it makes it so exciting," Gopichand said.
It was the third medal for Sindhu in the World Championships. She had won bronze twice in the 2013 and 2014 editions.
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