Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, more popularly known as PV Sindhu is one of the greatest sports persons in Indian history. PV Sindhu isn’t just India’s greatest badminton player of all time, she is also one of the greatest women’s badminton players in the world. The two time Olympic medalist has made the country proud on numerous occasions and in this post, we will take a closer look at her life and career. Let’s get started.
PV Sindhu: All You Need To Know
When was PV Sindhu born?
PV Sindhu was born on July 5, 1995, in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (modern day Telangana). Her father’s name is P. V. Raman and his mother is P. Vijaya. Sports run in PV Sindhu’s genes as both her parents have represented India in Volleyball. PV Sindhu’s younger sister is named P.V. Divya. In the year 2000, her father P.V. Raman was awarded the Arjuna Award for his sports. The reason behind PV Sindhu’s love for sports is pretty obvious. Her father is an Arjuna Award winner. As a member of the Indian Volleyball team, PV SIndhu’s father won a bronze medal in the 1986 Asian Games.
However, PV Sindhu chose to take up badminton because she was inspired by badminton player Pullela Gopichand. He won the All England Badminton Championship in 2001 and inspired the 6 year old PV Sindhu. Two years later, PV Sindhu started pursuing badminton seriously.
How were PV Sindhu’s early days as a badminton player?
PV Sindhu was very sporty and athletic from childhood. She started her badminton training at the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunication, Secunderabad under the tutelage of renowned coach Mehboob Ali. After this, she enrolled in Pullela Gopichand’s Badminton Academy. According to her coach Pullela Gopichand, “The most important thing about Sindhu’s personality is that she never gives up and keeps trying.” According to The Hindu, “She used to come on time every day even though the coaching camp was 56 km away from her home, which also shows her dedication to the game.”
PV Sindhu: Career Highlights
Starting out
PV Sindhu was the bronze medalist at the international level in the Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championship held in Colombo.
In the year 2010, she won the silver medal in the singles category at the Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge. In the same year, PV Sindhu reached the quarterfinals in the Junior World Badminton Championship held in Mexico. A 15 year old PV SIndhu was selected to India’s Uber Cup team in 2010. Her talent and abilities were beyond her age.
2012
On June 14, 2012, Germany’s Juliane Schenk faced defeat in the Indonesia Open at the hands of a young PV Sindhu. On July 7, 2012, PV Sindhu defeated Japanese player Nozomi Okuhara in the final and won the Asia Youth Under-19 Championship.
PV Sindhu surprised everyone by defeating China’s Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui in the China Master Super Series tournament in London in 2012.
This year she reached her career best ranking of 15th by virtue of her incredible performance.
2013
This year, Sindhu defeated Chinese player Wang Shixian in the World Championship and became India’s first medalist in women’s singles.
She was also awarded the Arjuna Award by the Government of India this year for his outstanding performance.
2014
At the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, she lost after reaching the semi-final stage in the women’s singles.
She created history by winning two consecutive medals in the World Badminton Championship and became the first Indian to do so.
2015
In November 2015, she won her third women’s singles title at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold.
2016
Earlier this year i.e. in January 2016, PV Sindhu won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold Women’s Singles.
In the Premier Badminton League, Sindhu became the captain of the Chennai Smashers team and won 5 matches and took the team to the semi-finals, but here her team lost to Delhi Acers.
In her quarterfinal match, she defeated world No. 2 Wang Yihan.
PV Sindhu Defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in Women’s Singles at the 2016 Summer Olympics on 18 August 2016. She reached the final of the tournament but fell short of winning the gold against Spaniard Carolina Marin. As a result of her Olympic Silver medal, she became a national hero and India’s darling. PV Sindhu also achieved the honour of becoming India’s youngest Olympic medalist.
2017
PV Sindhu earned one of her most famous victories in 2017’s India Open Super Series, Delhi where she beat the legendary Spanish badminton player Carolina Marin.
In August 2017, the BWF World Championships were held in Scotland, where Sindhu reached the finals, where she faced Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara. Unfortunately, India’s pride PV Sindhu couldn’t win the match and had to settle for silver.
Korea Open Super Series was held in Korea in 2017, in which Sindhu once again faced Japan’s Okuhara. Here Sindhu avenged her previous defeat by defeating Okuhara in the final. This helped PV Sindhu earn the honour of being the first Indian badminton player to capture a Korean Open title.
In August 2017, Sindhu was appointed as the Deputy Collector in Krishna district in the Office of the Chief Commissioner under the Department of Revenue, Government of Andhra Pradesh.
At the end of 2017, the Dubai World Super Series was held, in which Sindhu reached the finals and she faced Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. Unfortunately, she had to settle for silver once again.
2018
In 2018, PV Sindhu was facing the world’s third ranked badminton player Akane Yamaguchi in the All England Championship. After losing to her, Sindhu got the position of world number four. PV SIndhu’s All England showing was hailed as her best ever performance at the prestigious All England Open.
Sindhu participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. Sindhu won the gold medal by participating in the mixed team event, along with that she got the silver medal in women’s singles.
In 2018, Sindhu won the silver medal for the second consecutive time by participating in the World Championship. This was Sindhu’s fourth medal in the World Championship.
In December 2018, the BWF World Tour tournament was organized in China. In the last badminton series of the year 2018, Sindhu won this final match. Sindhu was the first woman badminton player to win this tournament, along with this she had registered her name in the pages of history.
In 2018, PV Sindhu was ranked seventh in the list of “Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2018” by the famous magazine Forbes on the basis of earnings.
In the 2018 Asian Games, Sindhu had a final match with Tai Tzu-Ying of Jakarta, to whom she lost.
PV Sindhu, an Olympic silver medalist, had made all Indians proud by winning the gold at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals, becoming the first ever Indian woman to achieve the honour.
2019
At the beginning of 2019, PBL was organized in India, where Sindhu was bought by Hyderabad Hunters during the auction. Sindhu had performed brilliantly in this entire series, she had reached the semi-finals. Here she faced Mumbai Rockets, against whom she had to face defeat.
The first badminton international match in early 2019 was the Indonesia Master Open. PV Sindhu also reached the quarterfinals of this tournament. But here she had a competition with Spain’s gold medalist Carolina Marin, where Sindhu could not stand in front of Marin’s master stroke and she had to be eliminated from Indonesia Master. Sindhu had made special preparations for this game, she wished to start her 2019 with an Indonesian Open title.
PV Sindhu Tokyo Olympics 2020 (held in 2021)
PV Sindhu reached yet another Olympic semifinal by defeating Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in straight games in the quarterfinal match. After this victory, PV Sindhu now reached the semi-finals. But in the semi-final match, PV Sindhu’s hard work fell short and she lost the match. After this, his next match took place on August 2 for the bronze medal, in which he won. And thus she has become the first Indian woman player to win a medal for the second consecutive time in the Olympics.
During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, PV Sindhu’s first match was with Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova on 25 July, followed by the next match with Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi. Sindhu won in both of these. Due to this brilliant performance, PV Sindhu had reached the quarterfinals. She earned her place in the quarterfinals by defeating Mia Blichfeldt in the pre-quarters.
PV Sindhu’s next match i.e. quarterfinal match with Akane Yamaguchi of Japan was a brilliant display by the Indian shuttler. She defeated the local hero Yamaguchi 21-13, 22-20. This earned her the unique honour of becoming the only Indian badminton player to ever reach two consecutive Olympic semi finals. PV Sindhu, who had been in ominous form throughout the tournament, hadn’t dropped a single game.
She squared off against second seed Tai Tzu-Ying of Taiwan. Unfortunately, PV Sindhu lost 18-21, 12-21 in straight games. This broke the heart of many Indian fans who were hoping that she would go one step higher than the 2016 Rio Olympics and capture the gold. However, PV Sindhu did manage to capture a Bronze medal by defeating eighth seed He Bingjiao 21-15, 21-13. She became the first ever Indian woman to capture two medals at successive Olympics. She is also only the fourth ever woman’s badminton player to have won singles medals at consecutive Olympic games.
For her incredible contributions to the sport, PV Sindhu was also honoured with the Padma Bhushan award, India’s third highest civilian award.
PV Sindhu: Best Quotes
I like Telugu movies, then comes Bollywood and then English movies. In Tollywood, I like Mahesh Babu and Prabhas. But no, I don’t watch all their movies. I first find out if the movie is nice. If it’s a flop, I don’t watch it.
I love dressing up, and I’m aware that people do say that it can take your attention away from the game. But I disagree with this notion!
I didn’t think I would have an Olympic medal at 21, but I knew I would give my best and play my game. I just viewed it as my first Olympics and that I would take it one match at a time, but to bring a silver home made me very, very happy.
Sometimes it does upset you when you lose in the finals, or even in a quarterfinal or semifinal, especially when you think, ‘Maybe I could have played better,’ or even if you gave your 100 percent, and even then, you lose.
I love to experiment with my looks and dresses on and off the court because I love to turn out very well. But, I must add here that just good-looking athletes can’t do anything for their sport.
While I am training, I don’t go out for events, so rest days, in a way, take away that time. Apart from that, I just stay at home and rest, maybe relax at home and spend time with family.
I went to school like any other regular student till Class VIII, and my favourite subject was math. From Class IX, things got a little difficult to manage. I was inclined towards studies, but then I also had to give time to badminton.
Since the Rio Olympics, the expectations are always high, and the responsibilities are also high. I am used to it now. You have to keep going and keep working hard.
Who is PV Sindhu dating?
There is no information on PV Sindhu’s relationship status and based on whatever information is available, PV Sindhu is single.
What is PV Sindhu’s net worth?
PV Sindhu has earned a significant amount of money through her tournament victories and numerous endorsements. PV Sindhu’s net worth is estimated to be around $6 million.
Was PV Sindhu world number 1?
Unfortunately, this is one achievement that PV Sindhu is still chasing. Her career best ranking is world number 2 and she has been in the top 10 since 2016. Hopefully, PV Sindhu will be able to become the world’s top ranked badminton player soon.
