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PV Sindhu, the multi-time Olympic medalist for India in badminton, hired a new coach in Agus Dwi Santoso from Indonesia in her quest to win the elusive gold medal at the Paris Games later this year. The 28-year-old parted ways with her previous coach Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia after working with him for just around six months.
The coaching stint with the Malaysian, which began in July 2023 for PV Sindhu, was far from fruitful for her with no titles on the BWF World Tour, and reaching only one final at the Madrid Masters. She had appointed Muhammad Hafiz Hashim following a split with the long-time coach Park Tae-Sang of South Korea in February of 2023.
With the Paris Olympics set to kick off in just over six months, the star Indian badminton player spoke to Reuters about how the coaching change came to be. She was quoted as saying, “I’d been training with Hafiz and then I wanted some change - I thought it was not suiting my game - and that’s when I asked Agus.”
After moving from Hyderabad to Bengaluru to be close to her new mentor Prakash Padukone, the Indian badminton legend, PV Sindhu has made wholesale changes in her team going into the 2024 badminton season. “It’s a new year, a new team. Every aspect I touch on is going to be completely different. Paris is something that’s an ultimate game for us. I think we need to be 100% in every aspect, physically, in skill and in strategy,” she remarked.
PV Sindhu also spoke about the qualities of Agus Dwi Santoso as a coach and said, “He’s really good for me because every coach has a different mindset. It’s super tough; you’re fatigued, you’re tired but they (help you) get back that strength and they make sure your muscles are strong enough to be back on court the next day.”
