PV Sindhu: Not going to be easy, but I want to achieve a lot more

India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu has said she wants to "achieve a lot more" even though she is aware it is not going to be easy.

Sindhu recently clinched Gold in women's singles at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 in Birmingham. It was her fifth medal at the CWG. Sindhu defeated Canada's Michelle Li 21-15, 21-13 to bring the yellow metal home.

A former world champion and two-time Olympic medallist, Sindhu had won a silver medal at the last Commonwealth Games in singles and also won the silver medal at the Asian Games in 2018.

In an interview on Thursday, Sindhu spoke about her memorable win at CWG 2022 and her future goals.

"There is a bit of jetlag right now (laughs). Definitely, it was a much-waited win. I am very happy, I missed out on the gold medal Earlier. I am really happy about it. Commonwealth Games come once in four years, and representing the country is a big honour. I am very happy.

"There were many people supporting me from Day 1 of the Birmingham Games. It was very motivating, they were chanting 'Sindhu Sindhu'. Their support gave me confidence, I really liked it. That gives me a lot of boost and motivation. Sometimes, when you are in a game zone, sometimes I shout a lot and sometimes you know you have to play with patience. I do shout, whenever I play, I am in the zone," Sindhu told NDTV.

Sindhu won her first Olympic medal during the 2016 Rio edition when she clinched silver after losing to Carolina Marin in the singles final. She followed that up with bronze at Tokyo 2020. The Hyderabad shuttler won gold at 2018 CWG in the mixed team event and also won bronze at CWG 2014 in women's singles.

"Every day is a learning curve. Everyday is a new day. The learning process continues, I do train and practice everyday. You need to learn everyday, you have to change strategies as per different opponents. I have to change my game, I have changed a little bit and it is a good thing.

"I am tall and my reach is good, whenever I play attacking, it is dangerous for opponents. So whenever they are playing against me, they are trying to give me less chances to attack. Smash is important, but you have to mix it up," added Sindhu in the same interview.

Sindhu went on to say that she hopes that India win more medals at Paris Games in 2024.

"There is a lot more for me to achieve. This is just the starting. I am learning a lot more. I feel I can win a lot more. It is not going to be easy, but I want to achieve a lot more. Top ten players currently are of the same standard. We cannot take any match lightly.

"If you see the CWG, we have some really good medals. I am sure there will be a lot more medals, we are doing well. You can see the improvement. I am hoping that we win more medals at Paris Olympics," the World No. 7 added further.

India's badminton contingent brought six medals home from CWG 2022, including three Gold. Both men's singles and women's singles Gold went to India: Sindhu and Lakshay Sen. India's duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy clinched Gold in the men's doubles category.

Overall, India finished with 61 medals at CWG 2022, including 22 Gold, 16 Silver, and 23 Bronze.