Pusarla Venkata Sindhu – Creates history

It was a moment Sindhu had been dreaming for years. In the summer of 2019, facing the world champion Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, P. V. Sindhu defeated her opponent 21-7, 21-7 to create history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to bag gold at the Badminton World Federation championship 2019.  P. V. Sindhu lifting the winning singles title in Basel, Switzerland, was indeed a proud moment for India.

Celebrating her victory, she said, “For me, this win means a lot and gave me a lot of confidence”.  Sindhu’s story is inspiring and a lot of hard work and dedication has gone into the making of this champion.

Sindhu was born in Hyderabad in the year 1995. Sindhu’s father P. V.R. Raman and mother P. Vijaya have been national level Volleyball players.  But drawing inspiration from Pullela Gopichand, she took to badminton at the age of eight. Supremely talented Sindhu didn’t take much time in climbing the rankings and establishing herself as a prominent player in the sport. In the year 2009, she participated in Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championship which happened to be her international debut. She surprised all by winning a bronze medal in the championship. She has never looked back ever since, In the year 2010, she finished as a runner-up at the Fajr International Badminton Challenge. At the Junior World Badminton Championship held in 2010 in Mexico, she reached the quarter finals. She won the Asian Junior championship at the age of 17. The year 2013 was a special one for this wonder girl. She won the bronze medal at the World Championships and ended the year by winning the Macau Open Grand Prix. She was awarded with Arjuna award in the same year which is the highest honour for any sportsperson in India.

Perhaps the biggest moment for this athlete was in 2016 when she bagged a silver medal at the Rio Olympics. She became the first female athlete from this to achieve this glory.  This wonderful feat earned her the Padma Shri award which is the fourth highest civilian honour in India.  She performed well in the successive years and reached the finals of three successive major events but had to be content with a silver medal in each of them. She broke the jinx and answered her critics by winning the Badminton World Federation championship this time.

Congratulation her on her grand success, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed, “The passion and dedication with which she’s pursued badminton is inspiring. PV Sindhu’s success will inspire generations of players”.

It must be noted that Sindhu is the only Indian among the Forbes’s list of world’s highest paid athletes.  She now has her eyes firmly set on the Tokyo Olympics 2020.