Guwahati: India’s badminton superstar PV Sindhu needs no introduction. She is one of just two Indian badminton players to have won an Olympic medal, the other being Saina Nehwal. And she is the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal.
In a few days from now, PV Sindhu will spearhead Team India’s badminton contingent in the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics. Sindhu isn’t an unknown name in the Indian sports fraternity with her glorious achievements speaking volumes of her talent, skills and ever-growing stature.
As Sindhu remains the heartbeat of badminton in the country, her well-wishers want her to return with a gold medal from the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympics. On Monday (July 05), Sindhu is celebrating her 26th birthday today.
On her special occasion, let us take a look at her major wins on the world stage:
Sindhu made the leap from a youthful prodigy to one of the top shuttlers in a dramatic way by earning her first Grand Prix championship in Malaysia. She also completed a hat-trick at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold in November last year.
Sindhu made the world sit up and pay attention to her in China. Sindhu’s bronze medal win at the BWF World Championship in Guangzhou saw her get the better of 2012 Olympic silver medalist Wang Yihan. Sindhu also made history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to capture a World Championships singles medal.
Sindhu was in top form in Odense, defeating Wang Yihan in the quarterfinals and Carolina Marin in the semis on her route to the final. Titleholder Li Xuerui beat Sindhu in straight games in the final, but her run to the top showdown was remarkable.
The pinnacle of Sindhu’s career also became the pinnacle of Indian badminton history. With a silver medal performance at that Rio Olympics, her extraordinary talent rose to new stardom. She may have fallen at the penultimate hurdle, but her second-place finish was one better than India’s best in the event in its 116-year Olympic history.
Sindhu avenged her setback at the Rio Olympics by defeating Marin in straight games to win her first India Open 2017 Superseries championship. Marin, though, was not the only big name to tumble in front of Sindhu at the tournament. Sindhu defeated 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal in the quarter-finals, then she defeated world number 2 Sung Ji Hyun in the semi-finals en route to her title win.
Sindhu became the first Indian to win the BWF World Championships on August 25, 2019, by crushing Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in just 36 minutes in a one-sided final.
