PV Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medalist, has admitted that dealing with criticism of her performance on social media is inevitable. Following her victory over Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in a group match of the women’s singles category at the World Badminton Championships, Sindhu addressed the issue head-on.
“Yeah, I mean, you know, criticism is always there. (What matters) is just how you take it,” she said to reporters. “And for me personally, even though there are so many people (who might criticize me), I know what I am and I know how it is to compete, how hard it is when we play on the court, how hard it is when we lose and how bad we feel when that happens.”
Sindhu further elaborated on her approach to dealing with criticism, emphasizing the importance of staying positive and bouncing back stronger. “We do have bad days and I don’t deny that but it’s important to bounce back stronger and just keep fighting hard and keep working hard. There are times you keep losing in your first round and however much ever you try, you might not be able to move forward but that is the time you have to stay positive and you need to have positive people around you and just keep backing yourself up.”
Sindhu’s comments come in the wake of Manu Bhakar’s revelation that she created a fake social media profile to defend Sindhu from online abuse. “I have always appreciated Neeraj and Sindhu for their hard work. There was this one time when I made a fake profile to defend Sindhu. Some haters commented, and I got so triggered that I made a fake account to defend her,” Bhaker had said. Sindhu, in turn, praised Bhakar’s actions, posting on X, “What a sweetheart! Welcome to the two medal club.”
While Sindhu continues her quest for a third Olympic medal, having advanced to the round of 16 in the women’s singles category, she expressed her support for Bhakar, who is also aiming for a similar achievement. “I couldn’t talk to Manu yesterday because I also had a match today but I obviously, congratulated her. She’s done a great job, and I wish her all the very best in her upcoming event. She’s put on an amazing show and got India in the medal column. That’s a great start,” Sindhu said.
