PV Sindhu aims to work harder on her game in coming year

Hyderabad: It has been a decent year for PV Sindhu with a bronze medal finish at the World Championships and retaining Macau Open title, but the young shuttler is keen to work harder on various aspects of her game and put up better performances against top players in the coming year.

Stating that she is focussing on improving her defence and strokes, Sindhu said, "Next year is Olympic (qualifying) year. Performance-wise, I think I need to work so much. There are many tournaments like Super Series and All England. I wish I perform well in those tournaments."

Sindhu, who defended the Macau Open title earlier this week, said she would also be looking to minimise her mistakes.

"We beat Chinese players. Whoever plays well on a given day that player would win. Sometimes mistakes happen. But I need to avoid those mistakes," Sindhu told.

The 19-year-old shuttler, however, said that she has not set any particular target in the new year and would like to focus on each and every tournament.

"It is done for this year. For next year, each and every tournament is important for me. Whether it is a small tournament, a Grand Prix, Super Series or Premier, it is equally important,"

"Many players from other countries are playing very well.

We cannot take anyone easily. I think we have to be very focused and work hard," said Sindhu.

Currently ranked World No. 11, Sindhu said she would not be giving too much importance to the rankings as it is bound to go up if the performance is good.

"I am World No. 11 right now. I was 10 before. It does not really depend on ranking. If you really play well, automatically the ranking goes up. It is just that you have to play well and be focused," she said.

Sindhu said that the competition at the international level is getting tougher with several youngsters from Japan and Korea, besides China, coming up with strong performances.

"Competition in the international circuit has been good.

Not only from the Chinese players, there are Koreans, Japanese also. As I said, we cannot take anyone easily. So, overall, competition is tough. You have to be alert from the beginning," said the girl from Hyderabad.