PV Sindhu Calls Mentor Prakash Padukone "Guiding Light", Shares Heartfelt Post

After suffering an early exit from the ongoing All England Open, India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu penned a heartfelt note for her "guiding light" Prakash Padukone and thanked him for his mentorship. 

PV Sindhu took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, "Mentorship is something that I believe everyone needs at some point in their life. There will be times when you stagnate. But like a lighthouse showing the way to ships, you need an old, experienced soul to guide you back on track. That is Prakash Padukone to me."

She added that she is "grateful" to find him as he not only pushes her to win but also "serves as a guiding light in my life." The two-time Olympic medallist continued, "I'm grateful I could persuade you to coach me and travel with me and Lakshya! Indian badminton truly benefits with your invaluable, unwavering, inspiring, and charismatic guidance, sir." She also shared a picture with the legendary badminton player enjoying a dessert.

Since being shared, the post has amassed over 54,000 views and two thousand likes.

"So true... he is so calming so grounded.. we meet certain people in life for a reason.." said a user.

"Such an inspiring and vow moment. Keep the flag high, both of u - The Greats," commented a person.

A third wrote, "Wise decision! The legendary Prakash Padukone is not only the most experienced Indian badminton coach and mentor, he is a sports soul with highest integrity!"

Meanwhile, PV Sindhu suffered defeat at the hands of the reigning world champion An Se Young of the Republic of Korea in the second round of the women's singles at the  All England Open. She lost to the Korean shuttler 21-19, 21-11 in the round of 16 of the BWF Super 1000 event. 

"Well I think I should have done a bit more better, the first game was pretty good I was giving away two or three points but then I was coming close but in the second game I gave her a huge lead there were a lot of unforced errors. I need to work on my mistakes and come back stronger," the badminton player said after the game, as quoted by the Badminton Association of India.