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Pursala Venkata Sindhu aka PV Sindhu is amongst the shining sports personalities in India who shuttled her way to the top when she was just 10 years old. Kickstarting an international career in Badminton at the age of 14, she went on to rule the Olympics, BWF Women Championships, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games. Alongside fellow badminton player Saina Nehwal and boxer Mary Kom, she has been one of the brilliant sportswomen in India. In this blog, we will celebrate the career and journey of the professional Badminton Player, PV Sindhu.
| Full Name | Pursala Venkata Sindhu |
| Date of Birth | 5 July 1995 |
| Famous For | Badminton |
| World Ranking | #7 in Women’s Singles |
| Career Wins | 352 |
| Professional Since | 10 years of Age |
| International Debut | 14 years of Age |
Table of contents
Must Read: Famous Personalities of India
This Blog Includes:
Tokyo Olympics 2020 Updates
PV Sindhu qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and was also in the semi-finals. She lost the match against Tai Tzu-Ying. PV Sindhu won a Bronze medal in Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Early Life
Born on 5 July 1995, Sindhu is the daughter of P.V. Ramana and P. Vijaya. Both her parents have been national-level volleyball players. Brought up in Hyderabad, Telangana, Sindhu began to play badminton at the age of eight. She credits Pullela Gopichand, 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion as the key inspiration behind her inclination in badminton.
Starting from the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad, she learned Badminton from Pullela Gopichand’s Gopichand Badminton Academy. She travelled more than 57 km to attend the academy and every day, on time. This shows the level of dedication she had even as a child. Sindhu won her first title at the age of 10, and there was no stopping from there.
Becoming a Badminton Champion!
PV Sindhu’s career has had its ups and downs, but then who doesn’t. But the fact that she never gave up is what is very motivating to everyone. If we start sharing the entire Badminton journey of Sindhu, it will take at least a day. So here are some of the major milestones in Sindhu’s badminton career.
First International Match
At the age where children enjoy school, Sindhu was winning titles after titles. She entered the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held at Colombo and bagged a Bronze medal. She attended the BWF World Junior Championship in both 2010 and 2011.
First International Gold
Sindhu won her first International Gold medal at the age of 16. She won the Asian Junior Championships by beating Japanese Player Nozomi Okuhara in the finals by 18–21, 21–17, 22–20.
Also Read: What Can We Learn From The Great Personalities?
Second Indian to receive a Medal at Badminton World Championships
She participated in the World Championships in 2013 where she was seeded 10th in the draw. Climbing the ladder and defeating two Champions from China and one from Japan, she became India’s second medalist at Badminton World Championships since Prakash Padukone.
Arjun Award
Seeing the amazing performance at Badminton World Championships, she was awarded with the Arjun Award by the Government of India. She later won the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title at the age of 18 in a match of just 37 minutes.
Rio Olympics
The turning point of PV Sindhu’s life was when she entered the Rio Olympics. Despite suffering a fracture six months ago, Sindhu managed to qualify for Rio Olympics in 2016. She was seeded 9th in the draw. She defeated Hungary’s Laura Sarosi, Canada’s Michelle, and Tai-Tzu Ying to reach the quarter-finals.
She then defeats Wang Yihan in the quarter-finals and Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-finals to reach the final match with Caroline Marin. Despite having lost, she became the youngest and the first female individual to bag Olympic Silver representing India. She also showcased the second podium finish ever by an Indian Badminton Player in the Olympics.
Career High World Ranking
In 2017, India Open Superseries, Sindu defeated the Rio Olympic Champion Carline Marin to receive her career-high world ranking of Number 2. PV Sindhu also won the 2017 Korea Open Super Series making her the first Indian to win the Korea Open.
First World Championship Winner
At the 2019 Badminton World Championship, PV Sindhu seeded the fifth position and defeated several professional badminton players. She won her Gold medal against Nozomi Okuhara to become the first Indian to win the Badminton World Championship.
Other Achievements
In the All England Open in 2020, PV Sindhu advanced to the semifinals stage. In 2021, she emerged as the runners up of the Swiss Open facing Carolina Marín, former World No.1 by BWF World Rankings, in the finals. PV Sindhu is the only Indian female shuttler to have qualified for Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Records
The phenomenal PV Sindhu holds multiple records in Badminton. A few of the milestones achieved by her are:
- PV Sindhu is the first Indian to become the Badminton World Champion
- She is the first Indian woman to earn an Olympic silver medal
- In April 2017, she rose to a career-high World ranking #2
- PV Sindhu holds World Ranking #7 Women Singles by BWF
- World Tour Ranking #4 Women Singles by BWF
- She is just the second woman behind Zhang Ning to win five or more medals at the BWF World Championship
- Representing India at the 2016 Summer Olympics, PV Sindhu became the first Indian badminton player to reach a final.
- She made the Forbes‘ list of Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2018 and 2019.
PV Sindhu has received many honours in her life. Here are some of them:
National
- Arjuna Award for Badminton in 2013
- Padma Shri Award, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in March 2015.
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour of India, in 2016
- Padma Bhushan Award, the third-highest civilian award in India, in 2020.
Others
- FICCI Breakthrough Sportsperson of the Year 2014
- NDTV Indian of the Year 2014
- INR 10 lakhs (US$14,000) from the Badminton Association of India, for winning the Macau Open Badminton Championships 2015
- INR 5 lakhs (US$7,000) from the Badminton Association of India, for winning the Malaysia Masters 2016
- TV9 Nava Nakshatra Sanmanam 2019
- BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year 2020
Rewards for Winning Silver Medal at 2016 Rio Olympics
- INR 50 million (US$700,000), and a land grant from the Government of Telangana.
- INR 30 million (US$420,000), a Group A cadre job( Deputy Collector of Andhra Pradesh) and 1000 yd2 land grant from the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
- INR 20 million (US$280,000) from the Government of Delhi.
- INR 7.5 million (US$110,000) from Bharat Petroleum Corporation, with promotion.
- INR 5 million (US$70,000) from the Government of Haryana.
- INR 5 million (US$70,000) from the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
- INR 5 million (US$70,000) from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
- INR 5 million (US$70,000) from Badminton Association of India
- INR 5 million (US$70,000) from NRI businessman, Mukkattu Sebastian
- INR 3 million (US$42,000) from the Indian Olympic Association.
- INR 500,000 (US$7,000) from the All India Football Federation.
- BMW car from the Hyderabad District Badminton Association and Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar
- INR 101,000 (US$1,400) from Salman Khan, for qualifying as an Olympic participant.
- Miniature badminton racquet memento with gold and diamond from Kirtilals.
Personal Life
PV Sindhu has been working with Bharat Petroleum since 2013, in the role of an assistant sports manager at their Hyderabad office. After her second-place victory at the Rio Olympics 2016, she was promoted to deputy sports manager. She was made the first brand ambassador of Bridgestone India and was also appointed as the Deputy Collector (Group-I) by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
PV Sindhu was the flag bearer for the Indian contingent in the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Endorsements
A report of Economic Times in 2017 shared that PV Sindhu is the second most highly paid sportsperson for brand endorsements in India. She has bagged some of the biggest deals in the history of Sports and Badminton.
PV Sindhu has worked with brands like Nokia, Moov, Bridgestone Tyres, Gatorade, Myntra, Flipkart and JBL. She is also the ambassador of the Chinese sports brand Li Ning. She has a four-year deal worth INR 500 Million, making it one of the biggest deals in badminton Players’ history. She was also elected the BWF Committee Campaign’s ambassador- ‘I am Badminton’ to promote clean and fair play of the sport.
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The life of PV Sindhu is nothing short of inspiration and hard work. She is one of the most celebrated women in India and the world. Her dedication towards her career was visible since her childhood and has only increased since then. She is proof that however far your dreams maybe, if you work hard enough for them, you will, one day, reach there. We at Leverage Edu salute her! Keep following us for more entertaining content.
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