PV Sindhu, India's star performer - GulfToday

PV Sindhu, India's star performer

  • 27 Aug 2019
Sindhu

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu poses with the gold medal after her victory at the BWF Badminton World Championships. Reuters

Third time lucky? It was Sindhu’s third consecutive World Championships final no doubt, but it was more than luck that saw her clinch the most prized medal. The final against Japanese top seed Nozomi Okuhara in Basel was one of Sindhu’s finest performances I have seen. For those who missed the match, the result gives an idea into the one-sided demolition. She was a giant on court. And not surprisingly the jinx was broken (“Sindhu creates history, becomes first Indian to win World Championships,” Aug.25, Gulf Today)

It took the 24-year-old PV Sindhu a little over half an hour to crush Okuhara and in the process she became the first Indian to win the BWF World Championships. It was a final to remember for all her supporters and badminton aficionados. But it surely will be very special for the champion because it must have brought back memories of the 2017 final.

Unlike the Sunday tie, the 2017 final was a pulsating encounter that lasted nearly two hours and involved a 73-shot rally, with Okuhara emerging victorious in the end. It was sweet revenge indeed. In fact her resounding win in the final was in sync with her tremendous form throughout the Championships. She had dropped only one game in tournament ahead of the final so the one-sided final was not totally unexpected.

Of course the victory will be huge boost for the Hyderabad champion who I am sure will now have her sights on sealing another gold at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Purohit Shah
By email

Related articles

Talent aplenty

While India is rejoicing over P.V. Sindhu’s stunning win at Basel, it should not forget that the country has loads of sportspersons laden with world class talent that is lying untapped.

29 Aug 2019

Sindhu eyes rare gold for India in wide-open Olympic badminton

India’s badminton superstar PV Sindhu has her eye on gold at the Olympics but warned the road to the final in Tokyo will be tough in a wide-open women’s singles featuring most of the world’s top players. The 2016 Olympic silver medallist Sindhu, who turned 26 this month,

15 Jul 2021

Video: Indian sport body to train 'viral' somersaulting kids

Jashika Khan and Mohd Eizazuddin, two kids whose cartwheel video on social media impressed five-time Olympic gold medallist gymnast Nadia Comaneci.

04 Sep 2019

A call to respect disabled people more often

There’s nothing like a countdown to get the heart racing. As a Paralympian, I spent two decades of my life racing the clock, plunging into pools in the small hours to shave seconds off my time, willing my muscles

28 Aug 2019

Other Articles

The fascinating and bizarre moments in Paltrow’s trial

The trial currently opposing Gwyneth Paltrow and a retired optometrist called Terry Sanderson should not be interesting. It’s a civil trial over an alleged ski collision. Sanderson filed it in 2019, claiming Paltrow skied into him, knocking him out and leaving him with multiple injuries, at an upscale Utah resort in 2016.

a minute ago

How debt ceiling could prevent next banking crisis

With the collapse of several banks in the last few weeks, many fear that their deposits aren’t safe and another financial crisis is looming. Worse, the fight in Washington over raising the debt ceiling threatens to strain the system still more. These two issues may seem worlds apart, but both flow from the same

9 minutes ago

Mental health is caused by external factors

Sometimes you can’t stop feeling angry or upset. Sometimes it’s extremely difficult to prevent yourself from saying something you feel needs to be said or doing something to yourself that you know is harmful to you. Anger is an emotion that is hard to control at the best of times and even harder to control when nothing

11 minutes ago

Appreciable initiative

The Brazilian president, Luiz Lula da Silva, should be complimented for taking the initiative through China, to mediate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. Lula is travelling to China to meet President Xi Jinping, when he will discuss his plan. The time has come for non-aligned countries like India, Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia,

13 minutes ago