Inspiring Biography of P. V. Sindhu

P. V. Sindhu is one of the greatest sports persons of India.

Sindhu became the pride of the nation when she won a gold medal at the 2019 World Championships and a bronze medal at Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Introduction-

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (P. V. Sindhu) was born on 5 July 1995 to P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya in Hyderabad, Telangana.

Both of her parents were professional volleyball players.

Sindhu has an elder sister, P. V. Divya, who works as a doctor and Sindhu is the youngest one in the family.

In 2000, her father, Ramana was awarded with the Arjuna Award.

Sindhu was very interested in playing badminton unlike her parents who were interested in playing volleyball.

When she was just eight years old, she realised her passion for playing badminton.

As both of Sindhu’s parents were sportspersons, they wholeheartedly supported her to make a career in badminton and she is very lucky to have such supportive parents.

Getting inspired by Pullela Gopichand-

Sindhu was greatly inspired by Pullela Gopichand of Hyderabad, who won All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001.

In 2004, she joined the much renowned Gopichand Badminton Academy at Hyderabad, where she received training from her idol, Gopichand.

He helped her to realise her true potential and capabilities.

Sindhu used to wake up daily at 3:30 AM in the early morning and travel a distance of 56 kilometres as a pillion rider on her father’s scooter from her home to reach the Gopichand Badminton Academy.

And she used to start her badminton practice sessions at 4:30 AM.

After completing the session, Sindhu used to reach the school at 8:30 AM.

And after finishing her school at 3:30 PM, she used to reach the Gopichand Badminton Academy at 4:30 PM and used to start practising badminton.

This routine continued for four years.

Later, her family shifted to live near the Gopichand Badminton Academy for her convenience.

Sindhu simultaneously managed her studies along with playing badminton and she never neglected her studies.

She studied Bachelor of Commerce from St Ann’s College, Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad and later completed Master of Business Administration.

Making international debut-

Sindhu made her international debut in 2009.

She practices badminton very religiously even on Sundays and holidays.

This showcases her punctuality.

Her hard work paid off, as she won many matches later on.

Getting rid of smartphone addiction-

When Sindhu was around 21 years old, her coach, Gopichand advised her to stay away from her mobile phone, as she was getting distracted by the mobile.

And she did not use her mobile phone for the next eight months.

This explains her dedication and commitment towards the game.

In 2010, Sindhu participated in the Junior World Badminton Championships and 2010 Thomas & Uber Cup.

The beginning of the winning saga-

On 7 July 2012, Sindhu won Asian Youths Under 19 Championship and was ranked 3^rdin the Badminton World Federation junior rankings.

During the same year, she defeated Li Xuerui of China, who was London 2012 Olympics gold medallist in the quarter finals of Li Ning China Masters Super Series tournament.

Sindhu caught everybody’s attention when she beat Li Xuerui, an Olympic champion and this motivated her to train even harder.

The year 2013 had been very lucky for her as she won her first ever major title (Grand Prix Gold title) at the Malaysian open title.

On 8 August 2013, Sindhu became India’s first medallist in the women’s singles at the Badminton World Federation World Championships.

And on 1 December 2013, she also won Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title.

In 2013, Sindhu was ranked as number 11 in the world in women’s singles. 

Receiving many prestigious awards-

In 2013, Sindhu was awarded the Arjuna Award, the award given by the Government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in sports.

She became the second recipient of the Arjuna Award in her family.

Sindhu received this prestigious award at a young age of 18 years.

In 2014, she won the title of FICCI Breakthrough Sportsperson of the Year 2014.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is a non-government and not-for-profit organisation in India.

And in 2015, Sindhu received Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India.

A year later, she was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in Sports and Games), the highest sporting honour of India.

Creating history-

In 2016, Sindhu won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics hosted at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In the semi-finals, she played against Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.

Sindhu defeated Nozomi Okuhara with her excellent gameplay and reached the finals, where she faced Carolina Marín of Spain.

Sindhu lost the match even after giving her best and so, she won a silver medal.

She created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in badminton.

Unfortunately, just before the Olympics Sindhu sustained a stress fracture to her ankle and was unable to even move.

But she did not give up and participated in the Summer Olympics and won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Winning the gold-

In 2017, Sindhu narrowly missed to win a gold medal in the BWF World Championships held at Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland after losing to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the finals.

This motivated her to train even harder and finally, on 25 August 2019 she won a gold medal in the World Championships held at Basel in Switzerland.

In this final match, Sindhu defeated Nozomi Okuhara of Japan by winning 21–7, 21–7.

Nozomi Okuhara had no answer to the services of Sindhu.

It took her just 38 minutes to win the match and create history.

Sindhu was well-trained to play long rallies and this helped her in the finals, as with Japanese, the matches will usually be long.

She won the match because from the beginning of the match, she was very alert and focused and was very well prepared for anything as she knew the importance of the match.

And all through the match, Sindhu never loosened her grip on the match and this helped her to win the match.

She became the first Indian to win gold at the World Championships.

Sindhu finally realised her long cherished dream of becoming the world’s number one badminton player.

After winning gold, she became a superstar in the country and received a warm welcome when she reached India from Switzerland.

After reaching India, Sindhu met Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India.

She inspires us that anybody can win even after losing with the help of persistence and determination.

Giving the best-

Sindhu won the World Championships because she gave her best in the match.

She feels that winning and losing are secondary but giving the 100 per cent is very much necessary.

Sindhu won a total of five world championship medals, which includes a gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

Boosting up-

Before winning the gold medal at the World Championships, Sindhu faced some criticism as she was able to only win silver and bronze medals but not gold medals.

These criticisms motivated her to win gold.

Sindhu says that ups and downs (wins and losses) are very common in the game.

She felt bad when she used to lose the matches but she never lost hope and believed in herself that the next time she will definitely win a gold medal by training herself even harder.

And in the final match in which Sindhu won a gold, she thought that she would give her best without overthinking about the outcome and she gave her hundred percent, as it is the only possible thing she can do.

This positive mindset made her to gloriously win the match.

Four long years-

It took four long years for Sindhu to win a gold medal as each and every time she used to narrowly miss gold.

She was saddened when she lost four times in the finals but she never stopped believing in herself.

Her parents supported her and motivated her by saying that losing a match is not disastrous, as the loss teaches many great lessons which helps to make a great comeback.

Winning at Olympic Games Tokyo 2020-

On 1 August 2021, Sindhu won a bronze medal thus becoming the first Indian woman to win two Olympics medals.
Her coach, Park Tae-sang played a vital role in this success.
Park Tae-sang hails from South Korea and is a retired badminton player.

Syed Modi International badminton title-

On January 23, 2022, Sindhu won the Syed Modi International badminton title in Lucknow by beating Malvika Bansod of Nagpur.

Swiss Open Super 300-

In March 2022, she won the Swiss Open Super 300 Women’s title in Basel, Switzerland.

Becoming a celebrity-

When Sindhu was young, she was inspired by the celebrities as the people requested them for their autographs and photographs and she also longed to become a celebrity one day.

Finally, she became a celebrity, thanks to her astounding success.

The role of her parents-

Sindhu is very thankful to her parents, Ramana and Vijaya because they played a very important role in her life and attributes her success to the motivation and support provided by them.

She requests other parents to support their children in whichever sports they are interested in, as a child will succeed and will be motivated to work hard only with the support of his or her parents.

The parents cannot just join their children in an academy and expect them to become successful overnight; the parents should also support their children in every possible way and make sacrifices for their children, if they really want their children to grow in their career.

And the parents must also be vigilant of their kids.

As Sindhu became a motivational figure to many children, many children would like to replicate her success.

For them, she advises them to love the sport and believe in themselves and work hard and make some sacrifices.

Her biggest strength-

One of the biggest strengths of Sindhu is her never give up attitude by which she plays her every match to her full potential.

Thanks to this attitude, she has won many matches since her childhood.

The sports minister of India, Kiren Rijiju announced a 10 lakh cash prize for Sindhu on the occasion of winning the gold medal at World Championships.

Sindhu is thankful to the sports minister, Kiren Rijiju and her coaches, Kim Ji-hyun and Gopichand and Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Badminton Association of India (BAI) and Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), which is sponsoring her since a long time.     

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Featured image credit- Prime Minister’s Office/Wikimedia Commons