P V Sindhu : Biography, medals , achievements and Story
“Your dreams are what define your individuality. They have the power to give you wings and make you fly high”
– PV Sindhu
A person who has scripted history with her victory. India’s pride, the badminton player Pusarla Venkata Sindhu has got a chance to call herself as “World’s champion”.
A flower that bloomed in 1995 in Hyderabad. She hails from an athletic family. She was born to Volleyball players, PV Ramana and P Vijaya. Her father Ramana played for the Indian volleyball team. In the 1986 Seoul Asian Games he achieved a bronze medal. He is a recipient of the Arjuna award in 2000.
PV Sindhu resides in Hyderabad. She was educated at Auxilium High school and St. Ann’s College for Women both in Hyderabad. And then to the place where her destiny took place, Gopichand Badminton Academy.
Career
Before all else, she was not very keen on pursuing professional sports. Her aim or all she wanted to become was a doctor. But destiny was something else for her. Sindhu’s tryst with badminton started at 8. Sindhu embraced badminton over that as she drew inspiration from the success of Pullela Gopichand, 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion.
Mehboob Ali was her shining supporter and mentor. She acquired the basics of the sport with his assistance at the badminton courts of the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad. Along with that, she had to also concentrate on her studies.
Her mother recalls that she never forced her child to finish her homework as Sindhu was responsible enough to finish her homework on time before going for badminton practice. The humble mother says she deserves little credit for Sindhu’s successes. She also says that her daughter has always been very dedicated. Sindhu was the one who decided to know about badminton and make something of herself. As parents it was not them who did anything special for her. Sometimes, she works so hard, that as a mother she used to wonder how she does it.
The girl who’s known for her determination and confidence. She loved playing badminton and traveled 56 km daily for her training. She also faced such conditions where she was a very small girl in the club and the senior players hesitated to play with her. She has undergone many training levels and to achieve her dreams she decorated her house with medals and cups.
But for her, this did not last long as she started to lose many matches. Her coach Gopichand was a former badminton player who was the major inspiration and turning point to her. He enlisted many rules regarding diet, food, exercise, practice, and most importantly to avoid using mobile phones. Her hard work and persistence saved her way.
“I didn’t think he meant it seriously. Not about the phone. How could I not have a phone! And yet when he gave me the letter, I instinctively said yes. So when I looked back in the evening there was nothing much I could do because I had already agreed to the conditions,” Sindhu laughs.
She began her journey again, she won many championships and became the first woman to fly Pedro’s flight and also the first women badminton player to reach the finals in the Olympics, and also the first Indian to become the badminton world champion.
On July 24th, 2020 she made her virtual launch, an online physical education fit kit program for children.
“I am lucky to have sportspersons as parents. They supported me in whichever sport I wanted to play. People ask me why not volleyball as both parents were volleyball players. My parents supported my decision to take up badminton. I have reached wherever I have because of the sacrifices of my parents”
Some of her Achievements and Recognitions
- At the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton championship she acquired a bronze medal which was held in Colombo.
- Sindhu created history by becoming the first Indian to win two back-to-back medals in the BWF World Badminton Championships after her bronze medal finishes in the 2014 BWF World Championships held in Denmark.
- She gained a silver medal in 2016 at the Rio Olympic Games
- On 16 December 2018, she again did a marvelous job by cretaing history becoming the first Indian to win the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals tournament in Guangzhou, China.
- She ranked seventh in Forbes list of “highest-paid Female athletes 2018” with earnings of $8.5 million
- She was awarded the Arjuna Awards by the Government of India in 2013.
- She is the recipient of the sports honor Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, and India’s fourth civilian award, the Padma Shri. Sindhu was also honored with Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, in January 2020.
- She got numerous medals in Asian Games, Olympic Games, and world championship.
Endorsements and Networth
The net worth of Sindhu in 2021 is estimated as Rs 72 crores. She became the only Indian Female Badminton player to enter the top 10 World rankings. PV Sindhu endorses more than 13 brands approximately. In the year 2019, PV Sindhu signed a sponsorship deal worth Rs 500 Million with Chinese sports brand Li Ning for 4 years. This was one of the biggest deals in the badminton sport. Apart from this her endorsement list includes:
- JBL
- Bridgestone Tyres
- Bank of Baroda
- Gatorade
- Moov
- Myntra
- Flipkart
- Nokia
- Panasonic
- Stayfree
- Boost
- Apis Himalaya Honey
- Ojasvita
- Central Reserve Police Force
- Vizag Steel
- Li Ning
It was specified in one of the Economic Times Report of 2017, that PV Sindhu was just behind Virat Kolhi with reference to Earnings from Brand Endorsements.
“I have learned many things, but there’s more to learn. Every day is a new start”
