Paris Olympics 2024: Sindhu stresses on “positivity” to tackle criticism, wishes Manu best for third medal

A day after Manu Bhakar told Sportstar how she had made a fake social media profile to discretely defend two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu from online abuse, the Indian badminton player admitted that it was inevitable to have to deal with criticism of her performance on social media.

“Yeah, I mean, you know, criticism is always there. (What matters) is just how you take it,” she told reporters in the mixed zone following her win over Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in a group match of the women’s singles category on Thursday at the Arena Porte de La Chapelle.

“And for me personally, even though there are so many people (who might criticise me), I know what I am and I know how it is to compete, how hard it is when we play on the court, how hard it is when we lose and how bad we feel when that happens,” Sindhu said.

“We do have bad days and I don’t deny that but it’s important to bounce back stronger and just keep fighting hard and keep working hard. There are times you keep losing in your first round and however much ever you try, you might not be able to move forward but that is the time you have to stay positive and you need to have positive people around you and just keep backing yourself up,” she said.

Sindhu had elaborated on how she had dealt with criticism following Bhaker’s remarks to Sportstar a day before. ”I have always appreciated Neeraj and Sindhu for their hard work. There was this one time when I made a fake profile to defend Sindhu. Some haters commented, and I got so triggered that I made a fake account to defend her,” Bhaker told following her bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event.

“What a sweetheart! Welcome to the two medal club,” Sindhu posted on ‘X’ in response to Bhaker.

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While Sindhu has taken one step further in her campaign to become India’s first individual athlete to win a third Olympic medal, having reached the round of 16 in the women’s singles category, she wished Bhaker the best as she chases the same goal.

“I couldn’t talk to Manu yesterday because I also had a match today but I obviously, congratulated her. She’s done a great job, and I wish her all the very best in her upcoming event. She’s put on an amazing show and got India in the medal column. That’s a great start,” Sindhu said.