They share perhaps the most popular rivalry in badminton. Their battles are always fiercly contested. Yet, PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin are thick as thieves when they're off-court.
In times where 'trash talk' seems to be the default setting among sportspersons across the world, Sindhu and Marin set a great example for youngsters. You could battle for the pinnacle of your sport, and you could do it without any animosity for your nemesis.
Just like tennis legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Sindhu and Marin are champions on the court and wonderful friends off it. Perhaps, it all began with the Indian's heartwarming gesture of lifting the Spaniard at the end of their unforgetable Rio Olympics 2016 final.
Not just the ace shuttlers, their mothers share great mutual respect too. Who can forget the time Marin's mother waited in the fan zone outside the World Badminton Championship 2017 venue to get a selfie with Sindhu's mother.
On Monday, Marin gave the world another glimpse of the friendship she shares with Sindhu by posting a heartfelt message on social media. The Spaniard is in India at the moment to compete in the Premier Badminton League (PBL).
The Olympic champion took to Twitter to share a picture of herself with the Olympic silver-medalist. "It's much more than just badminton," Marin wrote as caption.
Here's her tweet
Meanwhile, Sindhu has said the only way to handle the huge responsibility is to practice till she achieves perfection in all her strokes. "Since the Rio Olympics, the expectations are always high and the responsibilities are also high. I am used to it now. You have to keep going and keep working hard," said the 22-year-old shuttler.
"I have been working on all the areas because I feel everything is really important. You have to keep on learning all the time unless and until you become perfect in all the strokes," she added.
Sindhu, who narrowly missed out on winning the titles at the World Championship in Glasgow and Dubai World Superseries Finals, said there were a lot of positive things to learn from the year's performances.
"The year 2017 has been really good for me. Definitely, a lot of positive things to learn from," said Sindhu, who won the India Super Series and Korea Super Series, besides reaching the finals at Hong Kong Open. "In the year 2018, there are so many tournaments and some more tournaments are actually adding up. I have to keep moving and keep working hard. It will be really nice to achieve much more success in 2018."
Sindhu said many players are coming up in the country and they can learn by watching top-class shuttlers such as world no 1 Dane Viktor Axelsen, during the PBL. "Indian players are doing well. Many of the youngsters are doing really well. And definitely in the coming years you will see all of them. They will have to get a little more exposure," she said.
"By being part of PBL they will learn by seeing the top players, like Viktor (Axelsen) and some of the Olympians and others. It is a good opportunity for them to learn things and actually go and work out. If the young players work hard there is a bright future ahead. Playing with the professionals will give an idea of what it takes to achieve success," she added.
Sindhu felt happy that the standard of PBL was improving. "Well, it is good to see many top level players are coming and playing in the PBL. It is good for the Indians, especially youngsters to look at the high level players and learn. As a league, it is improving and is coming up," Sindhu said.
(Inputs from PTI)
