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A photo of P. V Sindhu by Prime Minister’s Office –

Top 10 Facts about P. V Sindhu

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu was born on 5 July 1995. She is an Indian badminton player. Considered one of India’s most successful sportspersons, Sindhu has won medals at various tournaments such as the Olympics and on the BWF circuit, including a gold at the 2019 World Championships.

She is the first and only Indian to become the badminton world champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games. She rose to a career-high world ranking of no. 2 in April 2017. In the article are the top ten facts about P. V. Sindhu.

1. At age 17 she was top 20 in the BWF World Rankings

A photo of P. V Sindhu by BBC World Service India Pvt. Ltd. –

The BWF World Ranking is the official ranking of the Badminton World Federation for badminton players who participate in tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation. It is used to determine the qualification for the World Championships and Summer Olympic Games, as well as BWF World Tour tournaments.

Sindhu broke into the top 20 of the BWF World Rankings in September 2012, at the age of 17. She has a total of five medals at the BWF World Championships. She is the second woman after Zhang Ning of the Republic of China to ever win five or more singles medals in the competition.

2. She is the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals.

She represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympic games also Rio 2016 held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, where she became the first Indian badminton player to reach the Olympic final. She won the silver medal after losing out to Spain’s Carolina Marin. After all, she became the first Indian badminton player to reach the Olympic final.

After four years, Sindhu again made an appearance at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. This time she won a bronze medal and broke a record of becoming the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals.

3. P. V. Ramana is Sindhu’s father!

A photo of P. V Ramana by Vice President’s Secretariat –

Pusarla Venkata Ramana is a former professional volleyball player and an employee of Indian Railways in Secunderabad. He was a member of the India men’s national volleyball team. In the 1986 Asian Games, he was part of the team that won a bronze medal. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2000 for his contribution to Indian volleyball.

4. Sindhu came from a family of athletes

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu was born and brought up in Hyderabad, India to P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya. P. V. Sindhu is a badminton player who is a two-time Olympic medallist, having won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and a World Champion, having won the gold in the 2019 BWF World Championships.

Pusarla Venkata Ramana Sinhu’s father is a former professional volleyball player. Her mother Vijaya has also been a national-level volleyball player. Her elder sister, P. V. Divya, is a doctor by profession and played netball at the national level.

5. Pullela Gopichand inspired Sindhu to play Badminton

A photo of Pullela Gopichand by the Prime Minister’s Office –

You must be wondering why all of Sindhu’s family members played volleyball while she chose to play badminton. So, though her parents played professional volleyball, she chose badminton over it because she drew inspiration from the success of Pullela Gopichand, 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion.

She eventually started playing badminton at the age of eight. She first learned the basics of the sport with the guidance of Mehboob Ali at the badminton courts of the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad. Soon after, she joined Pullela Gopichand’s Gopichand Badminton Academy.

6. Sindhu started competing at the international level while she was young

She was 14 in 2009 when she entered the International circuit. She was a bronze medalist at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In 2010 when she was 15 at Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge, she won the silver medal in the women’s singles. She reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 BWF World Junior Championships that were held in Mexico, where she lost to Chinese Suo Di in a 3-gamer.

7. In 2012 she became India’s first Asian Junior Champion

A photo of P. V Sindhu by Raj Singh palamu –

A 16-year-old Sindhu went on to compete at the All England Open Championships as a qualifier. She reached the main draw but lost to Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-Ying in 3 games. On 7 July of the same year, she won the Asian Junior Championships beating Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the final 18–21, 21–17, and 22–20, becoming India’s first-ever Asian Junior Champion.

Sindhu had already started stressing hardcore champions in the game because she was hard to deal with as she was so talented in the spot and she was always hungry for winning. She played as if she had nothing to lose which gave the opponents time to control the pressure.

8. Sindhu beat Li Xuerui

A photo of Li Xuerui by Marek69 –

Li Xuerui was one of the people who felt Sindhu’s wrath in the sport. If you happened to watch or review the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, I think you happened to know Li Xuerui. Li Xuerui is a retired Chinese professional badminton player. She is one of the most successful players of her time. She was a gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics in the women’s singles event and was the silver medalist in the 2013 and 2014 World Championships.

So, in the Li Ning China Masters Superseries tournament, Sindhu stunned the London 2012 Olympics gold medalist Li Xuerui. She beat beating her 21–19, 9–21, 21–16 and entered the semi-finals. However, she lost in the semi-finals to fourth-seeded Jiang Yanjiao of China 10–21, 21–14, 19–21.

9. She is the most earning badminton player

In March 2017 it was noted that she is second only to Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli when it comes to earnings from each day of brand endorsements. These postulates that she is the most earning badminton player. Sindhu charges brands anywhere between ₹10 million (US$130,000) and ₹12.5 million (US$160,000) for a single day of endorsement-related activities.

She has endorsement deals with JBL, Bridgestone Tyres, sports drink Gatorade, pain reliever ointment Moov, online fashion store Myntra, e-commerce portal Flipkart, phone maker Nokia and electronics major Panasonic.

She also endorses Stayfree, the health drink Boost, honey producer APIS Himalaya, herbal health drink firm Ojasvita and the Bank of Baroda. She is also a brand ambassador for both the Central Reserve Police Force and Vizag Steel.

10. Sindhu has numerous honours as a Badminton professional

A photo of P. V Sindhu by https://silverscreen.in –

Nobody can deny that Sindhu is the Greatest of All Time when it comes to Badminton sport. She beat Li Xuerui, the fourteen Superseries titles champion, China’s second most successful player after Wang Yihan, and she had a career-high of no. 1 in the women’s singles for 124 weeks.

She was honoured with Padma Bhushan Award, the third-highest civilian award in India, in January 2020; she was honoured with Padma Shri Award, the fourth-highest civilian award in India, in March 2015; she received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour of India, on 29 August 2016; and Bestowed with Arjuna Award for badminton on 24 September 2013