Pusarla Venkata Sindu, known widely as P.V Sindhu, is an Indian badminton star, achieving many awards in her sport and eventually becoming the first Indian Woman to earn a silver medal in the Olympics.
Born July 5th, 1995 Sindhu came from an athletic background. Her parents were both professional volleyball players on a national level, with her father even winning a bronze medal for his team at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games. She completed all of her schooling in Hyderabad, and became inspired to pursue badminton by watching Pullela Gopichand, the Indian-born winner of the 2001 England Open Badminton tournament, play.
She began to play badminton at the age of eight, with immense dedication to the sport. She would often travel 56km daily to go to the closest badminton court to learn the sport. Her dedication eventually earned her a spot at the Gopichand Badminton Academy, where she won many titles in the under 10-year category.
By the time Sindhu was 14, she had entered the international circuit for the sport, gaining renown in many tournaments worldwide, including earning bronze at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships, and silver in Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge in 2010.
Her most prominent rise to fame came in 2016, when she competed in the Women’s singles of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, bringing home a silver medal and breaking the threshold for female Indian athletes. Following her Olympic ranking, Sindhu earned the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honor offered in India. As of 2017 she is ranked second amongst female badminton players worldwide, first breaking the top 20 ranking in 2012 at the age of 17.
Now, with the Tokyo Olympics approaching, Sindhu aims to come back for the gold, training rigorously for her title of top player. Her training currently includes frequent 10k runs, strict dietary regimens and consistent sparring matches, often pinning her against two or three players at a time to sharpen her reflexes.
With an impressive array of accomplishments as an athlete, starting at a very young age, PV Sindhu has created a standard of excellence not only for her native country of India, but internationally as well.