Pusarla
Venkata Sindhu is an Indian professional badminton player. At the Rio Summer
Olympics in 2016, she became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver
medal. She is one of the two Indian badminton players to ever win an Olympic
medal other being Saina Nehwal.
Sindhu
came to international attention when she broke into the top 20 of the BWF World
Ranking in September 2012 at the age of 17. In 2013, she became the first ever
Indian women's singles player to win a medal at the Badminton World
Championships. In March 2015, she is the recipient of India's fourth highest
civilian honor, the Padma Shri. Her silver medal win in the women's singles
event of the 2016 Summer Olympics made her the first Indian shuttler to reach
the final of an Olympics badminton event and the youngest Indian to make a
podium finish in an individual event at the Olympics.
Sindhu
was born (5 July 1995) to P. V. Ramana
of West Godavari district and P. Vijaya
of Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh state. In 2000, Ramana was awarded Arjuna
Award for his sport. Though her parents played professional volleyball, Sindhu
chose badminton over it because she drew inspiration from the success of
Pullela Gopichand, the 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion. She eventually started playing badminton from
the age of eight.
Sindhu
first learned the basics of the sport with the guidance of Mehboob Ali at the
badminton courts of Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and
Telecommunications in Secunderabad. Soon after, she joined Pullela Gopichand's
Gopichand Badminton Academy badminton academy.
The fact that she reports on time at the coaching camps daily,
travelling a distance of 56 km from her residence, is perhaps a reflection of
her willingness to complete her desire to be a good badminton player with the
required hard work and commitment.
Gopichand
seconded this correspondent's opinion when he said that the most striking
feature in Sindhu's game is her attitude and the never-say-die spirit. After
joining Gopichand's badminton academy, Sindhu won several titles. In the
under-10 years category, she won the 5th Servo All India ranking championship
in the doubles category and the singles title at the Ambuja Cement All India
ranking. In the under-13 years category, Sindhu won the singles title at the
Sub-juniors in Pondicherry, doubles titles at the Krishna Khaitan All India
Tournament, IOC All India Ranking, the Sub-Junior Nationals and the All India
Ranking in Pune. She also won the under-14 team gold medal at the 51st National
School Games in India.
Career
In
the international circuit, Sindhu was a bronze medallist at the 2009 Sub-Junior
Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo. At the 2010 Iran Fajr
International Badminton Challenge, she won the silver medal in the singles
category. Sindhu reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 Junior World Badminton
Championships that was held in Mexico. She was a team member in India's
national team at the 2010 Uber Cup.
2016
In
January, Sindhu won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold women's singles title
after beating Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour in the final. She had also won this
tournament in 2013.
In
the 2016 Premier Badminton league, Sindhu was the captain of Chennai Smashers
team. In the group league, she won all of the five matches to help her team
qualify for the semifinal. However, in the semifinal. her team was beaten by
Delhi Acers.
Rio Olympics 2016
At
the women's singles event, Sindhu was
drawn with Hungarian Laura Sarosi and
Canadian Michelle Li in Group M. During the group stage matches, she beat Laura
Sarosi (2–0) and Michelle Li (2–1). Further she ousted Taipei's Tai Tzu-ying
(2–0) in the round of 16 to meet the second seed Wang Yihan in the
quarterfinals, whom she defeated in straight sets.
Sindhu
later faced the Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in the semifinals, won in straight
sets, and ensuring her a podium finish. This set the stage for her final
showdown with top seed from Spain, Carolina Marín. Marin managed to beat Sindhu
in three sets in the 83-minute match. With that result, Sindhu clinched the
silver medal. She charted history of achieving the feat as she is youngest and
first women individual to bag an Olympic Silver medal representing India. This
was the second instance of podium finish at the Olympics by any Indian
badminton player.
Honours
•
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for badminton in 2016
•
Arjuna Award for badminton in 2013