Shaking off some less-than-happy memories, Pursala Venkata Sindhu has attained a level of badminton glory that some sceptics had begun to wonder was beyond her capabilities.

Yet, and make no mistake about it, the theory of “third time lucky” did not come in to play when she struck gold at the World Championships in Basel on Sunday.

For her display was one of such complete dominance that one of her arch rivals who had claimed the gold medal two years earlier was never in the contest, and the 21-7, 21-7 scoreline bears eloquent testimony to reality: Sindhu had struck a purple patch that saw her take out equally reputed competitors in the quarter and semi finals. It was not as though the luck of the “draw” had favoured the 24- year-old lass from Hyderabad.

True that she seemed to be going through a lean trot of late, it now appears she was concentrating on building up her physical reserves for the World jamboree. She has never looked as strong as she did at Basel, and that strength bolstered her mental reserves too ~ not too many could lose consecutive finals and then come up trumps in the third.

Sindhu has confirmed she is made of champion’s “material”. Her on-court skills were never in doubt, yet she found a new gear in Basel that resulted in a rare dominance over every inch of the playing arena, leaving Nozumi Okuhara no space from which to plot a counter-attack. Perhaps what worked to her psychological advantage was that she was backed by the good wishes of her legion of fans.

Yet this time around she was nor burdened by the pressure of high expectations which take a toll on every Indian sports star.

There is a lesson in that for passionate Indian fans, players are human too and cannot succeed every time they take the field. If Kohli “falls” before scoring a century he is often said to have failed, and that holds true across the board ~ a victory sees the political leadership dashing off congratulations, none applauds gallantry in defeat. Players must be spared such pressures, unlike an election, a second spot is also an achievement of honour ~ that is why silver and bronze medals are also coveted. In the PV Sindhu context it is a trifle worrisome that even before the momentous achievement at Basel has really “sunk in” thoughts have found expression of hopes for her at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu and her team must be given due opportunity to savour a historic accomplishment, eminent athletes deserve some “space”. They too need to recover from their endeavours before steeling themselves for forthcoming challenges. Tokyo is still some months ahead, surely Sindhu could do with a break and not be over-burdened by needless pressure from socalled fans. She, more than anyone else, will know what is best for her.