3 min readMar 18, 2026 05:45 PM IST
Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu emphasised the need to have a good education for aspiring athletes, warning that it is too “risky” to ignore academics and focus solely on a sporting career that can end with a single injury.
“I have been playing for so many years. At some point of time you have to retire, right? And that’s the truth. You can’t be playing sport when you’re 45 or 50 or 60 at the highest level. And you have to accept that fact, whereas education will always be lifelong with you, and that will always stay with you,” said the two-time Olympic medallist at DPS International, while speaking to educationist Devyani Jaipuria.
“Nobody is born with a golden spoon and you have to work hard, whether it is in studies or sports…Studies and sports are equally important. I have done my MBA. So, I know, like, it’s not easy…you go to training in the morning, come back, study, and then you go for evening sessions. Because at the end of the day, that is the truth, where sports is a very small thing, right? Life-long, you know, you will always have an education by your side. Sport is also important, but not that, you know, completely stop your studies,” said Sindhu.
“I might sound mean, maybe they might not understand now, but in the later stage in their life, they will understand that, yes, studies are also important. Because sport sometimes, it’s very risky where sometimes you have an injury and you never know how it goes… your life might end, you might have a surgery…injuries…they don’t tell you and come, it just happens. At that point of time, you have to make sure that you are ready for everything in life,” she added.
The former world champion is on a break after being stranded in Dubai due to the closure of airspace in the middle of the American and Israeli bombing of Iran. She recalled the year 2015 when a stress fracture on her left foot had threatened to end her career and forced her out for six months, leaving her with very little elbow room before the 2016 Olympics. She went on to win a silver medal in that edition of the Games in Rio de Janeiro. “Everybody tried to stay calm but obviously it was serious. I was just in time to see the doctor after playing for several weeks with pain. So yes I have had self doubt, whether I would play again or not,” she recalled.
(With PTI inputs)
