30 Inspiring Facts Every Badminton Fan Should Know About P.V. Sindhu

P. V. Sindhu, the first and youngest Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal, as well as one of the two Indian badminton players to ever win an Olympic medal, is also the first Indian to have clinched the World Tour title defeating Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the 2018 World Tour final. Here are some very interesting facts about the Indian professional badminton player:

1. She was born Pusarla Venkata Sindhu on July 05, 1995, in Hyderabad, India. She has an older sister P.V. Divya, a former national handball player.
2. Her parents P.Vijaya and P.V. Ramana, have been national level volleyball players. Her father, the Arjuna awardee, was part of Indian volleyball team that won the bronze medal in 1986 Asian Games.
3. Sindhu took to badminton rather than volleyball, when she drew inspiration from Pullela Gopichand’s success at 2001 All England Open Badminton Championship.
4. She started playing badminton from the age of eight when she was coached by Mehboob Ali, with the rudiments of the game at Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunication, Secunderabad.
5. She would travel 56 km to train at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy, Hyderabad, Telangana. She won several titles in the under-10 years category, with her attitude and never-say-die spirit.
6. Her first major recognition came in the form doubles title at the ‘5th Servo All India’ ranking championship’ in the under-10 category and singles title at the ‘Ambuja Cement All-India ranking tournament.’
7. In the under-13 category, she won the singles titles at the Sub-Juniors in Pondicherry, doubles title at the Krishna Khaitan All-India Tournament, IOC All-India Ranking, the Sub-Junior Nationals and the All-India Ranking in Pune.
8. Sindhu attended Auxilium High School, Hyderabad till her ninth grade and later she completed her education through correspondence course due to her busy schedule. She graduated with a degree in commerce from St. Ann’s College for Women in Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad.
9. In 2009, she participated in the Sub-Junior Asian Badminton championship held in Colombo and won a bronze medal for India. Earlier in the year she caused an upset in the state championship, when she shocked Sikki Reddy, the Commonwealth runner-up, in the final in straight games at Ravulapalem.
10. At the 2010, Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge, concluded on February 06, she won the silver medal, going down to Japanese player, Rie Eto, in a closely contested match in the final.
11. Sindhu reached the quarterfinals of the girl’s singles event at 2010 Junior World Badminton Championship that was held at Guadalajara, Mexico. She defeated fifth seed Korean Choi Hye Jin before going down to second seed Chinese, Suo Di, 21-13, 17-21, 15-21.
12. After she exited in the second round of Indonesia Open, she made it up the Asian Youth Unde-19 Championship beating Japanese player Nozomi Okuhara in final on July 07, 2012, by 18-21, 21-17, 22-20, score line.
13. As a 17 year old she surprised 2012 London Olympics gold medalist, Li Xuerui of China with 21-19, 9-21, and 21-16 score line to reach semifinals of ‘Li Ning China Masters Super Series.’ However she was knocked out in the next round by Jiang Yanjiao of China but in the process she achieved career high ranking of 20.
14. Despite a knee injury which she sustained in the China Open, she reached the finals of 77th Senior National Badminton Championship held at Srinagar, on October 03, 2012. . As the third seed she lost the finals 21-15, 15-21, and 21-15, to Sayali Gokhale.
15. She earned her maiden Grand Prix Gold title, when she won the 2013 Malaysian Open title defeating Gu Juan of Singapore by 21-17, 17-21 and 21-19.
16. At the 2013 BWF World Championship, Guangzhou, China, Sindhu won the bronze medal and in the process she became India’s first medalist in the women’s singles. She had defeated the second seed and the defending champion Wang Yihan of China en-route to semifinals.
17. Sindhu was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award by Government of India in 2013. She went on to end the year on high with her second Grand Prix Gold title, when she won the Macau Open defeating Canada’s Michelle Li by 21-15, 21-12 score line.
18. She has been employed with Bharat Petroleum since July 2013, as an assistant sports manager with their Hyderabad office. Following her Olympic success, she was promoted to Deputy Sports Manager.
19. She created a history by becoming the first Indian to win two back to back medals in the BWF World Badminton Championships, with her bronze medal finish in the 2014 edition held at Denmark.
20. In her first Super Series event finals held at the Denmark Open in 2015, she lost to the defending champion, Li Xuerui, in straight sets by 19-21, 12-21. En-route to the finals she defeated three seeded player, namely Tai Tzu-ying, Wang Yihan and Carolina Marin.
21. Sindhu successfully defended her Macau Open Grand Prix title in 2015, by defeating Japan’s Minatsu Mitani in the finals by 21-9, 21-23 and 21-14 score line. It was her third successful title in the event.
22. The year of Olympics started on high note for Sindhu, with a Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold women’s single title in January 2016. She defeated Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the final by 21-15, 21-09 score line.
23. She made history by being the youngest and first female individual to bag an Olympic Silver medal for India at 2016 Rio games. Seeded ninth, she punched above her weight to defeat number of seeded players before losing to Carolina Marin of Spain in the finals by 21-19, 12-21 and 15-21 score line.
24. In April she won 2017 Indian Super Series the second super series tournament of the year, held at New Delhi. She defeated Carolina Marin of Spain in straight sets with 21-19, 21-16 score line.
25. In August 2017, Sindhu was appointed as Deputy Collector in Krishna District in the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration Office under the Revenue Department of Andhra Pradesh.
26. She was ranked seventh in the Forbes’ list of ‘Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2018’ with earnings of $ 8.5 million. The list is based on earning from prize money and endorsements from June, 2017 to June, 2018.
27. She was honored with Padma Shri award in March 2015, the fourth highest civilian award in India and on August 29, 2016, she received Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting award of India.
28. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar presented her with BMW car in 2016 following her silver medal win. The gift was sponsored by former Andhra Pradesh batsman, V. Chamundeshwarnath, the Hyderabad District Badminton Association president.
29. In August 2017, to celebrate her achievements at the Olympic, Kirtilals, a premium diamond jewelry brand designed an exclusive souvenir; a miniature badminton racquet made of gold and diamonds and presented it to Sindhu.
30. In 2014, she received the FICCI Breakthrough Sportsperson of the year award. In the same year, NDTV named her the Indian of the Year 2014.
31. P.V. Sindhu Net Worth: $1.5 Million