Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is one of the most talented and accomplished player of the Indian Badminton squad. She is the one and only Indian to have won consecutive medals in Badminton championships. Record tells she has dealt with Chinese players far better than her Indian counter-part, Saina Nehwal. She was born to P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya – both former volleyball players.
Though her parents played a different sport, Sindhu chose badminton as she drew inspiration from the success of Pullela Gopichand, the 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion and eventually started playing badminton from a young age.She has also won the Macau Open Grand Pix Gold title in 2013.
At a tender age of 20, she achieved heights which few are only capable of. Having reached the senior level, she won the Malaysian Masters Grand Prix gold in 2013 and 2016. In 2014, she created history by becoming the first Indian to win two back-to-back medals in the World Badminton Championships.
In 2015, she received India’s fourth highest civilian honour Padma Shri. It is her zeal and potentials that she successfully outclassed several established players like Tai-Tzu-Ying, Carolina Marin, Wang Shixian, Wang Yihan, Li Xuerei and others. The Rio Olympics 2016 will be her first ever Olympics and thus as expected Sindhu is very enthusiastic to give a flying start to her Olympic career by winning a medal in her first ever Olympics.
In the international filed, Sindhu won a bronze medal at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo.
In 2010 at Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge, she won the silver medal in the singles category. Sindhu reached the quarter-finals 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.
Though she has lost several times, yet she conquers millions of hearts. She knows how to steal the show and to keep her nerves under control. Her determination and longing for the sport is what makes her all the more invincible. May this Indian girl continue to conquer billions and billions of hearts!
