Former Indian badminton star Jwala Gutta sees a tough time for India in the Tokyo Olympics to be held later this year, but backed P.V. Sindhu to be a strong medal prospect if she could find some form leading into the event.
Sindhu, who won the World championships last year in August, has had a sedate run since then and would be looking to get things back on track.
“I don’t think it is going to be better than the last time. It will be difficult because I haven’t seen any great performances. Being a sportsperson, I am hoping let’s be positive (on getting a medal) but I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t have any medals. That’s what I feel,” said Jwala.
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“If Sindhu is training really hard and if I see some results now... yeah, of course, she is a medal prospect,” the Arjuna Awardee added.
Three athletes felicitated
As part of the Casagrand Aspiring Stars program, three young women athletes were felicitated by Jwala and Casagrand executive vice-president N. Eshwar at an event here on Tuesday.
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The three athletes received a sponsorship of ₹2 lakh each to support their sports training and development requirements.
S. Ruthika, a sprinter from Chennai, Suhitha Maruri, a tennis player from Bengaluru and Abinaya Raghupathy, a roller-skating sportsperson from Coimbatore were the three winners.
Ruthika, a class X student, created a new meet record by clocking 12.35s in 100m at the South Zone athletics championships in Udipi, Karnataka. She also won a gold at the National Junior athletics championship in Guntur.
Suhitha Maruri is currently ranked No. 3 in the All India Tennis Association girls’ under-14 category.
Abinaya Raghupathy is the winner of Tamil Nadu roller skating championship from 2013 to 2018.