Badminton superstar PV Sindhu has not been able to set the court on fire in the first half of 2022. She has two titles to boast of — Syed Modi International and Swiss Open (both Super 300) and a bronze medal in the Asian Badminton Championship — yet given the two-time Olympic medallist’s high standards even her biggest fan would agree Sindhu’s form has been patchy.

The latest setback came on Friday. She endured her sixth straight defeat to Taiwan’s Tai Tzu Ying in the quarter finals of the Malaysia Open, making it an overall 16 losses and five wins.

Pullela Gopichand, the chief national badminton coach, said he would discuss with her coach Park Tae Sang how to sort out the problems.

“We will work on this definitely. She’s a very good player and Tai Tzu is equally good. We will plan accordingly so that she’s able to reverse the losses in the near future,” Gopi, as he is known as in the badminton fraternity, said on Saturday.

“We will be talking to coach Park and find out what the problems are. She is a strong player. She’s experienced and I’m sure she will come back strongly in a few weeks.”

The 2001 All England Badminton champion was in the city for the inauguration of the Star Badminton Academy.

Gopi is hopeful that the country’s male shuttlers will be able to win the gold medal in the singles and better their record in the doubles event at the upcoming Commonwealth Games following the Thomas Cup triumph.

Indian shuttlers had claimed an unprecedented six medals, including two gold, three silver and a bronze, at the 2018 edition of the Commonwealth Games. Kidambi Srikanth and the pairing of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had finished second best in Gold Coast but Gopi feels they can grab the pole position this time.

“As a team this performance (Thomas Cup) means a lot. We haven’t performed this way at the team level, in the men’s section especially,” he said.

“The team is excited and very hopeful after the way we performed in the Thomas Cup. I’m hopeful that we would do better than last time. Looking at the Thomas Cup success, I’m sure we will have a chance to better our records in the men’s singles and doubles.”

Prakash Padukone (1978) and Syed Modi (1982) and Parupalli Kashyap (2014) are the only Indian men to win the gold at CWG, while Chirag and Satwik created history by becoming the first-ever Indian pair to win a CWG medal en route to a silver in 2018.

The Birmingham showpiece will be held from July 28 to August 8. '

With inputs from PTI