Badminton world champion PV Sindhu has left the national camp meant for young Olympic hopefuls and travelled to London to work on her personal recovery and nutrition. On Monday, PV Sindhu had taken to Twitter to announce that she was in London working on her recovery with Rebecca Randell of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI).
Happy to be in England and working with GSSI over the next few weeks on my nutrition and recovery with @rrandell86 ! 3 months to Asia tour and this is best chance to work on things and improve !! pic.twitter.com/07PSqweiHu
— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) October 18, 2020
As PV Sindhi travelled to London, Times of India began to spread ‘source based’ rumours about the reasons for her leaving the national camp and travelling to London.
In an article published on the 20th of October by Times of India, sports reporter Manne Ratnakar wrote that his ‘sources’ had informed him that PV Sindhu has been in the UK for the past 10 days already.
Times of India wrote, “Sources told TOI that Sindhu has left the country in a huff, apparently after tensions in her family. Before she left Hyderabad, Sindhu informed the coaches at the Pullela Gopichand Academy that she will not return to India for the next eight to ten weeks”.
The article by Ratnakar on Times of India further quoted sources to insinuate that she had left after a tantrum and a fall out with her family and “efforts were on to bring her back”. The source was quoted as saying, “She was upset with a few things. Efforts are being made to convince her to return home, she is unlikely to return anytime soon. At this stage of her life, she wants to be on her own and not be controlled. Maybe being at home during the lockdown took its toll and she wanted some freedom. We hope she enjoys the break and comes back”.
Times of India quoted another ‘source’ to claim that Sindhu will be training with English players for a while ‘otherwise her game will be affected’, insinuating that Sindhu had a fall-out with her coach Pullela Gopichand.
Soon after the article by the Times of India, PV Sindhu took to Twitter to issue a stern warning to the publication and the journalist and called the article fake news.
I came to London a few days back to work on my nutrtion and recovery needs with GSSI. Infact I have come here with the consent of my parents and absolutely they were no family rifts in this regard. pic.twitter.com/zQb81XnP88
— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) October 20, 2020
In a statement, PV Sindhu said, “I came to London a few days back to work on my nutrition and recovery needs with GSSI. In fact, I have come here with the consent of my parents and absolutely they were no family rifts in this regard. Why will I have problems/issues with my parents who have sacrificed their lives for my sake. Mine is a very close knitted family and they will always support me. I am in touch with my family members everyday. Also I do not have any issues with my coach Mr Gopichand or the training facilities at the academy. Mr M. Ratnakar the sports reporter of TOI who is spreading false news should know the facts first before writing them. If he doesn’t stop, I may have to resort to legal proceedings against him”.
Threatening to take legal action against the sports journalist and Times of India, PV Sindhu rubbished the article by TOI and said that she has no issues either with her family, who have sacrificed everything for her career, or with her coach Pullela Gopichand or his training facilities.
Not the first time Times of India has spread fake news about PV Sindhu
This is not the first time that Times of India has resorted to spreading fake news about world champ PV Sindhu. In a report published in July 2019, TOI had asserted that PV Sindhu had urged the Indian Olympic Association not to shun CWG over the exclusion of shooting.
Expressing her disappointment with the same journalist who is spreading fake news about her now, Mr Manne Ratnakar, Sindhu stated that he had patently misquoted her and that she had never asked the IOC not to shun the CWG. Sindhu said that as players they all want to participate in any sports event but she would always support what the Indian Olympic Association and the government decides. Another badminton player, Jwala Gutta had responded on Sindhu’s tweet, claiming this wasn’t the first time the journalist had twisted someone’s statement.
