Want to see myself in top 3 ranking by year-end: PV Sindhu

Have young kids come up to you and told you how they want to be like you?

Definitely, yes. They keep telling me, "You are our role model, we want to be like you and what should we do to be like you". Actually, it feels nice when youngsters come up and ask for anything.

We are here in Delhi. You're here for the India Open Super Series, the biggest tournament in India. Ready for it?

Yes, really looking forward to it. I hope I give my best.

How difficult is it to sustain the pressure in a home tournament, given all the attention and expectations?

It's not so much pressure, because I have been used to it. In my early days, I would feel it a lot more. The responsibilities are much higher now. People expect me to come out and win. But when we are out there playing someone, it's better to keep those expectations away from your mind. You need to go out and play your game, be calm.

A big name in the draw (of the India Open World Super Series) is Carolina Marin. It would be interesting if you both come up against each other, especially because of what happened at the Olympics where you both faced each other for the big medal.

I think it will be our third meeting after the Olympics because after Rio, we have also played at the Dubai Super Series and the Premier Badminton League. Of course yes, it will be exciting. But right now, it is one round at a time and I'm not thinking too far at the moment.

Where do you find yourself as far as career is concerned? You have got multiple world championship medals, you have won an Olympic medal, so the big medals are already out of the way and you are still very young. Are you looking at the next stage as the World No.1? How do you reassess yourself when you have won so much at such a young age?

Definitely yes, I would want to see myself as the World No.1. Right now, I'm World No.5. It is not so easy. I have set certain goals for myself like by the end of this year, I want to see myself in the top three and then continue to progress. Then definitely one day, I would see myself as World Number 1.

It has been a very low key 2017. You haven't played that much. Is that part of strategy? Do you want to pick and choose your tournaments?

We can't really choose tournaments. If I look at 2017, I started with the PBL, then the Syed Modi International, then All-England, now this. It's not so much pick and choose, you have to keep yourself fit. You need to look at training schedules. If you're not fit, you go, lose and come back. That doesn't feel good. So we tend to discuss with our coaches. If something is wrong, we don't feel 100 per cent, then we would miss tournaments. Otherwise, we play all tournaments.