PV Sindhu is, without a doubt, one of the most celebrated athletes in India, thanks to the historic feat that she achieved by winning a silver medal in the Olympics 2016, and qualifying for the semifinals in the ongoing tournament.
Thanks to this powerhouse of talent, India is now looking at another Olympics medal soon. But who is PV Sindhu? Here are some things about the badass player that’ll make you respect her even more.
1. Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is 26 years old and hails from Hyderabad.
2. At the age of 8, when most of us didn’t even know what the Olympics is, Sindhu had already started playing badminton.
3. In a career spanning 12 years, she has won the World Championship and has reached the top-4 at the Olympics two times.
4. Despite living quite far from her training centre, she made it to training every day at 4 AM, travelling a distance of around 56 km to get there!
5. She is the daughter of former volleyball players, PV Ramana and P Vijaya.
6. Sindhu was coached by badminton icon and Arjuna awardee Pullela Gopichand for the first 10 years of her career.
7. She is not new to creating history and is the first Indian women’s singles badminton player to bag a medal at the Badminton World Championships, in 2013.
8. She has also been honoured with the Padma Shree, India’s fourth highest civilian honour. Look at that infectious smile!
9. We’ve all seen her tackle opponents ferociously, but when she’s off the field, she spends most of her free time on WhatsApp.
All images via PV Sindhu/Facebook