As Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu went down to Carolina Marin in the finals of the BWF Badminton Championships, there were many reports and reactions from all around which questioned her mental block in the finals and the inability to get across the line.
Not only did Marin outpace Sindhu in straight games in approximately 45 minutes to become the first woman to win three World championships singles title, she seems to have the Indian's number ever since she beat him in Rio Olympics in 2016.
However, Rohan Bopanna did not agree with all the negative comments and the unfair criticism levied towards Sindhu and even blamed the media for the coverage. He took to Twitter to question the approach of media and even said that the entire episode could have been given a positive spin.
What we do today can improve all our thoughts tomorrow. #justmythought #PVSindhu pic.twitter.com/vKjd9VPdGp
— Rohan Bopanna (@rohanbopanna) August 6, 2018
This tweet was retweeted by Sindhu with two thumb ups and a smiley emoticon.
Former Indian badminton star Prakash Padukone too believed that there is no mental block for Sindhu and even asked media channels to not put her under intense pressure and scrutiny ahead of finales.
"We should not put too much pressure on her when she is doing well. She is world number three. The focus should be on how we can make her win rather than why she is losing the final again and again. If we keep doing that, she would only feel more pressure," Padukone said.
Carolina Marin, the champion player has said that she knows Sindhu very well and advises her to control her nerves while playing in the finals.
"I don't know why exactly she (Sindhu) can't win a gold medal at a major event," Marin tells ESPN. "When you play a final you tend to feel nerves, maybe Sindhu should try to control that."
"I know what I need to do against her every time we play each other. Mainly in the first game, for me it was about keeping calm and being patient. I don't know if she was nervous or if I put pressure on her with my service or generally during the game. I just wanted to keep my focus and I managed to do that," Marin further added.