One of the strong medal hopefuls from badminton at the upcoming Olympics, PV Sindhu said she wants to break into the top 7 in world ranking before the Rio Games in August.
"Before going to the Olympics I would really like to see myself in top 10. Top seven is my aim, actually. There are five six events lined up before the Olympics (August 11-20)," the World No 12 told PTI before leaving Shillong after the conclusion of badminton in the 12th South Asian Games.
Sindhu, who is the second highest ranked women's singles player from India after Olympic bronze medalist and No 2 Saina Nehwal, is now looking forward to the Badminton Asia Team Championship in Hyderabad from February 15-21.
"Those points are also counted in rankings. Even though it's a team event the singles would be really important. Top players are going to play. I'm not really worried about something. I just want to play well," the former World No. 9 said.
After the BAC, Sindhu will train her eyes on the GP Gold event of German Open (March 1-6) before shifting the focus to All-England Super series Premier slated from March 8-13.
"I want to take one by one. If you really perform well you don't need to worry about the rankings. It goes up automatically," the double World Championship bronze medallist said.
Talking about her experience at the South Asian Games, Sindhu said: "This was my first time to the South Asian Games. I was not going to play in Thailand and I had already decided that as we have an important event in Hyderabad beginning next week. Since it (SA Games) was in India, I had to play.
"Competition wise this was not really that up to the mark. You will see a very different standard outside. But here I don't feel it was up to the mark."
The 20-year-old from Hyderabad, in fact, had a forgettable outing at the SA Games losing to compatriot Ruthvika Shivani, who's ranked above 100, in the women's singles final.
"It was not my day and she was a bit lucky. My strokes were not going. Everything was going into net. Probably if I had taken the second, I would have won the third game as well," she said about the final where she lost 11-21, 20-22 to Ruthvika.
Sindhu also wished Ruthvika, the current national champion, all the best for future.
"She's playing good enough. I wish she would perform well at the International level also. It will take time to improve. Every stroke is really important and you need to practice it daily. Then only it will become perfect."
