‘I Retire’, reads badminton champ PV Sindhu's cryptic post
India’s badminton champion P.V. Sindhu left fans and social media shocked on Monday after she posted “I Retire”, and added that not being able to represent India at the Denmark Open was the last straw.
While on the face of it appeared the Olympic silver medalist was retiring from the sport, her post, which included a series of text slides, went on to say she was retiring from this “current state of unrest”, “negativity” and “complete lack of control over the unknown” in reference to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I have been thinking about coming clean with my feelings for a while now. I admit I have been struggling to deal with it. It just feels so wrong, you know. That’s why I’, writing today to tell you that I’m done. It’s understandable if you’re shocked or confused but by the time you finish reading this you would have learnt about my point of view, and hopefully, will support it too,” Sindhu wrote. “This pandemic has been an eye-opener for me. I could train hard to fight the toughest of opponents, tooth and nail, right till the final shot of the game. I have done it before, I can do it again. But how do I defeat this invisible virus that has the entire world in a fix? It has been months at home and we still question ourselves every time we step out. Internalizing all this and reading about so many heart-breaking stories online has got me to question a lot about myself and this world we live in. Not being able to represent India in the Denmark Open was the last straw,” she added.
Towards the end of her post, she acknowledged that her message may have given people a mini heart-attack, but added that “unprecedented times required unprecedented measures”.
She ended it by saying she would not stop training and would train hard for the Asia Open and would not give up without “putting up a solid fight”, clarifying that she wasn’t retiring from the sport.
