PETALING JAYA: Indian badminton star P.V. Sindhu (pic) has indicated that she wants Malaysian former All-England champion Hafiz Hashim to be her new coach as she prepares for the Paris Olympics next year.
The 2019 world champion has sought the Sports Authority of India’s approval to receive training from the former top Malaysian singles shuttler, news agency PTI reported on Friday.
Hafiz, 40, quit as a junior coach with the Badminton Association of Malaysia at the end of last year and accepted an offer from the Suchitra Badminton Academy in Hyderabad this year.
Sindhu won the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics and a bronze at the Tokyo Games in 2020.
The 27-year-old has worked with Hafiz for the past two weeks in Hyderabad ahead of the upcoming events, starting with next week’s Canada Open.
“She is an elite player for India and is likely to be the only woman singles badminton player to qualify for Paris Olympics,” PTI quoted former Indian national coach Vimal Kumar as saying. — Bernama
