Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, who is also known as PV Sindhu, is an Indian badminton player. She became the first ever Indian woman`s singles player to win a medal at the Badminton World Championships in 2013. She won silver in Women`s singles at Commonwealth Games 2018 and was also a silver medalist at the 2017 BWF World Championships. She is among the top five shuttlers in women`s singles category.
Early Life of Pusarla Venkata Sindhu
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu was born on 5th July 1995 at Vijayawada and receives her training from Gopichand Badminton Academy at Hyderabad. Her parents PV Ramana and Vijaya were professional volleyball players. She started playing badminton from the age of eight. She first learned the basics of badminton with the guidance of Mehboob Ali at the badminton courts of Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad.
Career of Pusarla Venkata Sindhu
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu won the under-14 team gold medal at the 51st National School Games in India along with many other titles. In 2009, she won a bronze medal in Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo. At the 2010 Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge, she won the silver medal in the singles. On 7th July 2012, she won "Asia Youth under 19 Championship" and then she went on to participate in the 77th of Senior National Badminton Championships held at Srinagar. She was defeated by Sayali Gokhale in final.
In 2013, she won the "Malaysian open" title beating her opponent from Singapore, Gu Juan. In 2013, she beat Wang Shixian to become India`s first medallist in women`s singles at the World Championships. In the same year, she won the "Macau Open Grand Prix Gold" title. Sindhu later created history by becoming the first Indian to win two back-to-back medals in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) after her bronze medal finish in 2014 BWF World Championships held in Denmark. In 2015, she won her third successive women`s singles title at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold. In 2016, she won the "Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold" women`s singles title. In the 2016 "Premier Badminton league", Sindhu was the captain of Chennai Smashers team. She created history by achieving the feat as she is youngest and first women individual to bag an Olympic Silver medal from India.
In 2017, Sindhu won the title of "India Open Superseries" and defeated Okuhara in the final of the 2017 "Korea Open Super Series". She became the first Indian to win "Korea Open". In "Dubai World Superseries Finals", she finished as the runner-up. In 2018, Sindhu competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, winning the gold medal in the mixed team event and a silver medal in the women`s singles event.
Awards of Pusarla Venkata Sindhu
Following are the awards of Pusarla Venkata Sindhu:
•Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for badminton in 2013
•Arjuna Award for badminton in 2013
•Padma Shri Award in 2016
Personal Life of Pusarla Venkata Sindhu
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu has been employed with Bharat Petroleum since July 2013, as an assistant sports manager with their Hyderabad office. She was promoted to deputy sports manager. Also, Andhra Pradesh Government appointed P.V. Sindhu as Deputy Collector (Group-I). She was the leader in commonwealth games 2018 Indian parade.