PV Sindhu on Friday went down fighting to World number 1 Carolina Marin in the women’s’ finals of Badminton at the Rio Olympics, yet she will hold her head high as she has already created history for the medal-starved India. Marin, dubbed as ‘Girl Nadal in Spain’, in the way to the finals had defeated Chinese powerhouse Li Xuerui, who was the Gold medallist at the London Olympics, now has stamped her name in the list of Olympic champions. Nevertheless, Sindhu is a heartthrob of the nation and everyone is a fan of her high jump smashes and back-flips.
The 21-year-old shuttler has won India a silver at the Olympics. Despite, Sindhu’s valiant efforts, Spain’s Carolina Marin stood in her way for the gold. World number 1, Marin, who hadn’t dropped a single game at the Olympics before the final, continued her excellent form. She has already been dominating World badminton in the last two years. Looking at Sindhu’s amazing form, more than a billion Indians were hoping for her to get the much eluded Gold for the country but upsetting the Spaniard.
The tall powerhouse of energy, Sindhu made the Olympics court look small with her long and agile strides and infected everyone with her stamina and fitness. Though she was ranked 10th in the world, she did not care, and as a brave soldier, she trampled biggies like world number two Yihan Wang in the quarter final and number six Nozomi Okahura in the semi final.
Sindhu had said that an Olympic medal was her biggest dream which she started dreaming after watching Saina Nehwal win the bronze medal in London. And now she has Silver.
Sindhu broke into the international by winning a hat-trick, the Malaysian Open in 2013, the Macau Open and the World Championships. She is an Arjuna Awardee and the youngest Padma Shri recipient.
