PV Sindhu – 247 news around the world

PV Sindhu was born in Hyderabad, Telangana on July 5, 1995 to PV Ramana and P. Vijaya. While Indian Railway employee Ramana is from Nirmal, Telangana, Vijaya is from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. Ramana Sindhu, the father of PV Sindhu, received the Arjuna award in 2000 in honor of his achievements in volleyball. He played volleyball for the Indian team which won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Seoul in 1986.

Vijaya, Sindhu’s mother, is also a former professional volleyball player. Sindhu started playing badminton at the age of eight, picking up the basics from Mehboob Ali during practice sessions at the badminton courts of the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad. PV Sindhu then enrolled in the famous Gopichand Badminton Academy in Pullela Gopichand to develop her skills.

PV Sindhu has won many competitions after joining Gopichand badminton academy. She won the singles title at the Ambuja Cement All India ranking competition and the doubles championship in the under 10 category at the sixth Servo All India ranking competition, respectively. Sindhu won the singles championship at Sub-juniors in Pondicherry, doubles titles at Krishna Khaitan All India Tournament, IOC All India Ranking, Sub-Junior Nationals and All India Ranking in Pune as she advanced to the sub-13 divisions. She also helped the under-14 team win the gold medal at the 51st National State Games in India.

PV Sindhu started his international badminton career in 2009 at just 14 years old. She advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2010 BWF World Junior Championships in Mexico, eventually losing to China’s Suo Di in a three-set match. She then emerged victorious in the Maldives International Challenge in June 2011, beating fellow Indian PC Thulasi, and the Indonesia International Challenge the following month. Sindhu also won top honors at the Commonwealth Youth Games by beating Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah Su Ya in back-to-back matches.

In July 2012, Sindhu won the Asian Junior Championships title by beating Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, becoming the first Indian to achieve the accolade. She continued to impress at the Li Ning China Masters Super Series tournament by defeating 2012 Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui and advancing to the semi-finals. In 2013, she followed in the footsteps of Prakash Padukone by winning a singles medal at the World Championships. She then won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games after defeating Malaysia’s Tee Jing Yi.

At the 2014 BWF World Championships, Sindhu fell to eventual winner Carolina Marin in the semi-finals, but still won a bronze medal. Her performance at the Rio 2016 Olympics saw her reach the women’s singles final, paving the way for an Indian medal in the category. Although she lost to Carolina Marin, Sindhu became India’s youngest individual Olympic medalist and the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal.

Sindhu’s outstanding performance continued at the 2019 World Championships, where she won gold after defeating Tai Tzu-ying in the quarterfinals and Nozomi Okuhara in the final. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Sindhu faced Taiwan’s Tai, ultimately losing but earning a spot in the bronze medal match. She defeated China’s He Bingjiao, winning her second consecutive Olympic medal in women’s badminton singles. Finally, at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Sindhu won women’s singles gold, triumphing over Canadian Michelle Li and becoming only the second women’s singles player to win a full Commonwealth Games medal streak.

On September 24, 2013, Sindhu received the Arjuna award for his achievements in badminton. In 2015, she received the Padma Shri award, India’s fourth highest civilian honour. Her achievements were further recognized when she received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sports honour, on 29 August 2016. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) honored Sindhu by naming her Sportswoman of the year in 2019. In 2021, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour, in recognition of her continued success in sport.