PV Sindhu’s husband becomes an accidental coach. He has a lot going for Sai

PV Sindhu stepped onto the court at Sydney’s Quaycentre on Thursday and was not quite herself. Something smaller, she said later – but enough to want someone in her corner. The problem was that the player over the net was Isharani Baruah. Fellow countryman. Her coach’s call was like tipping the scales for Sindhu. So no.

She called her husband instead.

Venkata Datta Sai, a sports fanatic, data scientist and, since Thursday, an accidental badminton coach, arrived in the box as emotional support. He left after earning two warnings from the referee, reading Baruah’s game point-by-point after the second game and his wife describing him, with some reluctance, as “uncomfortably polite”.

“I came as an emotional support, got two warnings from the umpire, somehow escaped without a card and read Ish point by point almost to the tee in the second match. Sometimes it helps to have a complete sports fanatic as a husband,” Sindhu said in a post on X.

It helped that Sindhu won. Screengrab by X

She needed 42 minutes to see off Baruah 22-20, 21-12 to book her place in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Super 500. It wasn’t straightforward – especially in the first game where the world No 39 matched the third opening point for point and briefly looked capable of stealing it. Sindhu held her nerve in the closing exchanges, breaking up a tense opener that could have gone either way.

She took it from there. The second game looked like a player who had settled something in her head – Sindhu dictated the rally, opened up an early lead and never allowed Baruah to come back. The 21-12 score flattered the difference.

The result continued a quiet recovery. It was Sindhu’s fifth quarterfinal of the year. last week she returned to the world top ten for the first time in almost three years — a milestone that came without fanfare but meant something. The title drought, which stretches until the Syed Modi International in 2024, remains. But the scaffolding form is back.

Next up is Chinese Taipei’s Chen Su Yu in the round of 16 – a tougher examination than on Thursday and where the coach’s box is likely to be occupied by someone with fewer cautions on their record.

Although with the way Thursday went, Datta Sai could make a good case for that role.

– The end

Issued by:

Akshay Ramesh

Published on:

June 11, 2026 12:09 PM IST