P V Sindhu - Is she the Greatest Ever Indian Badminton Player?

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu created history on Sunday the 01st August 2021 as she won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The 26yr old is the first Indian badminton player to win the silver medal at the quadrennial event back in 2016 at the Rio Olympic Games. Sindhu is also the second Indian athlete to win back-to-back medals at Olympics, the first being wrestler Sushil Kumar, who had won bronze in 2008 and silver in 2012.

Saina Nehwal was the first Indian badminton player to win a medal in this prestigious event. Saina won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

Sindhu is only the 4th women’s singles player to win multiple medals at the Olympic Games.

Sindhu was first noticed when she broke into the top 20 of BWF rankings in 2012 when she was just 17yrs old. Before this, Sindhu had gained immense popularity at the state and national levels. She has won All India ranking championships in under-10 and under-13 categories. Sindhu has also won gold at the 51st national school games.

Sindhu’s first international outing was at the Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships in 2009, where she won a bronze medal. The following year she came close to winning few international junior championships, but her major achievement was when she won the Asian junior championship.

Sindhu’s major achievements

In total Sindhu has won a mix of 14 BWF titles to date and has won 344 matches out of 492 played.

Her achievements have given a lot of recognition to the women’s sports sector in India. Sindhu’s silver medal at the Rio Olympics changed the dynamics of badminton in India.

Badminton is the 2nd most played sport in India after cricket. Sindhu has become a household name in the country. The number of girls getting into badminton doubles after her every win. Sindhu doing well at the international stage is good for the sport along with empowering women in the country.