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India’s Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu, who captured the imagination of the entire nation by winning a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, has ignored Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali's offer for a 'better coach', saying that her current guru Pullela Gopichand is the 'best coach' for her.
"I feel Gopi sir is the best coach. I have been training under him since I was 10. I don't have to say anything about it (minister's comment)," Sindhu told ANI.
Her comments came after Ali triggered an outrage on social media with his statement that the 21-year-old lanky shuttler may be provided a 'better coach' so that so could fetch gold in the next Olympics at Tokyo.
Sindhu received a rousing welcome on her arrival in her home town and was felicitated by the Telangana government for her stellar performance at the Rio Games.
Considered as one of the country's finest shuttlers, Gopichand has produced an array of top-class shuttlers, including 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth, a quarter-finalist in Rio de Janeiro.
Despite producing a spirited performance in the opening game, Sindhu lost the pulsating women's singles badminton final against Spain's Carolina Marin 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 and brought home a silver medal.
With the feat, Sindhu has also become the fifth Indian woman to clinch a medal in Olympics history after Karnam Malleswari, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sakshi Malik.