Why Tanvi Sharma is hailed as the next Sindhu by coach Park Tae-sang

Indian Express

a day ago

With his perennially upbeat personality and a genuine intent to help Indian shuttlers, Park Tae-sang has been backing a new bunch of shuttlers, post his stint with PV Sindhu. So when he declares, 'I will make Tanvi Sharma the next Sindhu,' talking to The Indian Express, you know there will be no lack of effort put in, at Guwahati, where he is currently based at the National Centre of Excellence, guiding Sharma.
It's not often that the powerful Sindhu-smash, and her offense, finds comparison around the world, let alone in India. But coach Park, who trains her day in-day out, has his reasons and believes – with adequate disbelief since she 'doesn't have the height or isn't tall like Sindhu' to crank up that depth and strength – that Sharma, 16, is the rightful heir to the Sindhu attacking-legacy.
This week at the US Open Super 300 at Iowa, Sharma has scythed through a reasonably strong field for a teenager to fight through, and made it to the business end. 'I am not sleeping and staying wide awake in Guwahati, to watch her play,' Park says. 'She has the same aggression and attack I saw in Sindhu while being skilful. That's why I'm saying I want to make her the next Sindhu, though there are many areas still to work on,' he adds.
Sharma comes from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, and has an older sister playing the sport. But there was always that fearlessness in her strokeplay, and unhassled attitude when playing the big names, that's akin to the two big names in women's singles, Sindhu ofcourse but also Saina Nehwal. But Park reckons Tanvi might be a natural upgrade, given how she cleverly thinks on her feet, reads the game, and by how she asks coaches at the National Centre the precise questions. 'She's very sincere, hardworking, driven and keeps wanting to train more and more. Even the head coach is happy,' Park chuckles.
What's kept him awake though are her three wins at Iowa's Council Bluffs arena. First she took out World No 23 Thuy Linh Nguyen, who has unexpectedly troubled Sindhu quite a bit with her pace. The 27-year-old Vietnamese is one of the smartest upcoming players on the circuit, and led Sharma by a good 7 points at 5-12, when the Indian pressed her offensive gear. It was like flicking a switch, and she won the opener 21-19. In the second, she raced with 10 points on the bounce to claim it 21-9. 'TanviSharma makes mistakes, but she's so calm and can come through from any deficit,' Park says, adding, 'The net has to improve a lot.'
In her Round 2, Sharma beat Thailand's upcoming shuttler, Pitchamon Opatniputh, ranked No 58. It was solely Sharma's relentless attacking game that wouldn't let Opatniputh even sniff a lead. Keeping opponents two steps behind – as against constantly playing catch-up – has become mighty rare in Indian women's singles. But Sharma, who made the National seniors finals at 15, but lost to another talented spunky shuttler, Anmol Kharb, from an injury, ensures her clean, agile attack, doesn't leave her chasing leads ceded to opponents.
Ask Park if she can be compared to the small-statured explosive attack of Akane Yamaguchi, and he is determined that the comparison is far more akin to Sindhu – not a running, retrieving game, but pure intentful offense. 'I was surprised at the power in her smashes, because I thought there's no height,' he says candidly adding he went in thinking she would pepper the midcourt but was taken aback by the punch and depth in her kills.
Teaching her how to use the smash as a set-up, and not always a kill stroke, however will be down to the coaches at Guwahati. But Park's assessment of the smash is largely flattering, and one that the joke goes, Sharma herself would do well to not read as quite the raving praise, something that gee-ed up Sindhu plenty, but didn't necessarily have answers to her endgame freezes. TanviSharma, as Park calls her, has the 'finishing attack' naturally coded into her mind.
His praise of the smash and its variants is fulsome. 'Firstly, it's powerful. Next she has it all – not just the straight smash, cross smash, slice smash, power hit, but also the skillful half smash for deception. The attack is all there.'
It showed when she casually dislodged Malaysian next gen, Letshanaa Karupathevan, 21, and ranked No 50 to make semifinals and become the only unseeded shuttler in the Last 4.
Sharma is still prone to loose shotmaking when tired, and will need to get stronger in her endurance when there's a push back on her offense, which is inevitable. But Park & Co, who only look after junior talent with performance projections of 3-5 years only, might be best suited to help her build on that doable metric, while keeping her away from injury.
As a rule, it's easier to prop up stamina than to imbibe aggression and an attacking style that doesn't lapse into running and retrieving. Saina and Sindhu both had that attack drilled into them by their early coaches. Sharma simply boasts of the natural instinct.
In playing the way she does – decent anticipation, good punch in overheads (like Yamaguchi) and an itch to finish points early by dictating pace – Sharma has inadvertently changed a bit of Park Tae-sang's own thinking.
A Korean, who specialises in cleaning up footwork and striding of juniors, puts a lot of store on defense, and generally prepares his wards for the running, rally game, Park is suddenly excited about watching the bright side of the moon. But something else altered his views. Women's singles World No 1 An Se-young in a recent interview spoke about the need to switch to an attacking style, that won't put pressure on her limbs and cause injury.
'Since (the legendary) Park Joo-bong took over in Korea (from Japan), both he and An Se-young in an interview have spoken about the need to play more aggressive to not aggravate injuries (that come from the lapsing rally game). Sure, the big names Chen Yufei and others are relying on endurance, but there is that realisation that An Se-young has to change,' he informs of the buzz in Korean media.
Evolving is inevitable, and this is precisely how Lin Dan went about tweaking and sharpening his game too. But for Park Tae-sang, bigly defensive in his instinct, to buy into that aggressive attacking mode, is a welcome change. In 'TanviSharma' as he calls her in one single breath, the coach has just the right student to teach new tricks to.