P.V. Sindhu became the first Indian to win a Badminton World Championships gold on August 25, 2019. She beat NozomiOkuhara of Japan in a lop-sided final held in Switzerland. This was Sindhu’s fifth World Championships medal.
Sindhu has often credited her parents, P. Vijaya and P. V. Ramana, for her success. Both of whom are former volleyball players. She became world champion on her mother’s birthday and dedicated the medal to her.
The 24-year-old who hails from Hyderabad had the first of her victories during the all-India under-10 singles held in Kochi in June 2005. She won the all-India junior major ranking badminton tournament in Hyderabad in November 2008.
She also won the under-14 team gold medal at the 51st National School Games in India. Sindhu won a bronze medal at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo. She won the silver medal in the singles category at the 2010 Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge. She then reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 Junior World Badminton Championships that was held in Mexico.
She also won Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title by defeating Canada’s Michelle Li on December 1, 2013. In 2014, PV Sindhu reached the semifinal stage of Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the women’s singles competition and created history by becoming the first Indian to win two back-to-back medals in the World Badminton Championships.
PV Sindhu also reached the semifinal of the World Cup in Denmark. The world number 11 from Hyderabad showed extraordinary skills and fighting spirit to defeat the second ranked Shixian Wang.
The biggest moment of Sindhu’s career came in the year 2016 when she went on to become the youngest and the first female athlete from India to win a silver medal at Rio Olympics. She was graced with India’s 4th highest civilian honour, The Padma Shri Award, later that year.
In 2017, Sindhu won The Indian Open Super Series and later added a silver medal at The BWF World Championships. After reaching the final of the 2018 World Championships, she became the first shuttler in the world to reach the finals of three successive major events.
