P. V. Sindhu

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (born 5 July 1995) is an Indian badminton player. Considered as one of India's most successful athletes, Sindhu has won medals at tournaments such as the Olympic Games, the World Championships, and on the World Tour. She is the first and only Indian to become the badminton world champion and only the second individual from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games. She rose to a career-high world ranking of No. 2 in April 2017.

Sindhu broke into the top 20 of the BWF World Rankings in September 2012, at the age of 17. She has won a total of five medals at the BWF World Championships and is only the second woman after China's Zhang Ning ever to win five or more singles medals in the competition. She represented India at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she became the first Indian badminton player to reach the Olympic final. She won the silver medal after losing out to Spain's Carolina Marín. She made her second consecutive Olympic appearance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won a bronze medal, becoming the first-ever Indian woman to win two Olympic medals.

Sindhu won her first superseries title at the 2016 China Open and followed it up with four more finals in 2017, winning the titles in South Korea and India. She also won the 2018 BWF World Tour Finals and remains the only Indian player to win a season finale title. She is also the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and has won three consecutive singles medals at the Commonwealth Games, a silver medal at the Asian Games, and two bronze medals at the Uber Cup.

With earnings of US$8.5 million (2018), $5.5 million (2019), $7.2 million (2021), and $7.1 million (2022–24), Sindhu made the Forbes' list of Highest-Paid Female Athletes in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. She is a recipient of the sports honours Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna Award, India's highest and second-highest sports awards, as well as the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, India's third-highest and fourth-highest civilian awards.

Early life and training

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu was born on 5 July 1995, in a Telugu family, to P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya, in Hyderabad, India. Both her parents hail from Andhra Pradesh. Her mother is from Vijayawada, while her father's family is originally from Eluru and later moved to Guntur and Nirmal, where he was born. Sindhu lives in Hyderabad. She and her family regularly visit their family deity in Ratnalammakunta village of Eluru district, Andhra Pradesh. She was educated at Auxilium High School, Hyderabad, and at St. Ann's College for Women, Hyderabad.

Both her parents have been national level volleyball players. Her father, Ramana, was a member of the Indian volleyball team that won the bronze medal in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, received the Arjuna Award in 2000 for his contribution to the sport. Though her parents played professional volleyball, she chose badminton over it because she drew inspiration from the success of Pullela Gopichand, the 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion. She eventually started playing badminton from the age of eight. She first learned the basics of the sport with the guidance of Mehboob Ali at the badminton courts of the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad. Soon after, she joined Pullela Gopichand's Gopichand Badminton Academy. While profiling her career, a correspondent with The Hindu wrote:

"The fact that she reports on time at the coaching camps daily, traveling a distance of 56 km from her residence, is perhaps a reflection of her willingness to complete her desire to be a good badminton player with the required hard work and commitment."

Gopichand seconded this correspondent's opinion when he said that "the most striking feature in Sindhu's game is her attitude and the never-say-die spirit." After joining Gopichand's badminton academy, Sindhu won several titles. In the under-10 years category, she won the fifth Servo All India ranking championship in the doubles category and the singles title at the Ambuja Cement All India ranking. In the under-13 years category, she won the singles title at the Sub-juniors in Pondicherry, doubles titles at the Krishna Khaitan All India Tournament IOC All India Ranking, the Sub-Junior Nationals and the All India Ranking in Pune. She also won the under-14 team gold medal at the 51st National State Games in India. She later parted company with Gopichand and went on to train with South Korean coach Park Tae-sang. She is currently coached by Anup Sridhar and Lee Hyun-il.

Personal life

Sindhu got engaged to businessman Venkata Datta Sai in early December 2024 and got married on 22 December.

Sindhu has been employed with Bharat Petroleum since July 2013, as an assistant sports manager with their Hyderabad office. Following her silver-medal win at the Rio Olympics, she was promoted to deputy sports manager. She was appointed as the first brand ambassador of Bridgestone India. She was appointed as the Deputy Collector (Group-I) by the Andhra Pradesh government in July 2017, which she took charge later in August.

Career

2009–11

Sindhu entered the international circuit at a young age of 14 in the year 2009. She was a bronze medalist at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo. At the 2010 Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge, she won the silver medal in the women's singles. She reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 BWF World Junior Championships that was held in Mexico, where she lost to Chinese Suo Di in a 3-gamer.

In 2011, she won the Maldives International Challenge in June defeating compatriot P. C. Thulasi, as well as the Indonesia International Challenge the following month. She then won the Commonwealth Youth Games by beating Soniia Cheah Su Ya of Malaysia in straight games. She was a finalist at the Dutch Open where she lost to home player Yao Jie 16–21, 17–21. Her successful run continued after she won the Swiss International beating Carola Bott of Germany in the final. She lost in the second round of the 2011 BWF World Junior Championships to Yuki Fukushima in a very close match 21–15, 18–21, 21–23. She won the India International badminton event later in the year, defeating compatriot Sayali Gokhale.

2012

A 16-year-old Sindhu went on to compete at the All England Open Championships as a qualifier. She reached the main draw but lost to Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying in 3 games. On 7 July 2012, she won the Asian Junior Championships beating Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the final 18–21, 21–17, 22–20, becoming India's first-ever Asian Junior Champion. In the China Masters Superseries tournament, she stunned London 2012 Olympics gold medalist Li Xuerui, beating her 21–19, 9–21, 21–16 and entered the semi-finals. However, she lost in the semi-finals to fourth seeded Jiang Yanjiao of China 10–21, 21–14, 19–21.

Sindhu then went on to participate in the 77th Senior National Badminton Championships held at Srinagar. She was defeated in the finals by Sayali Gokhale 15–21, 21–15, 15–21. It was later revealed that she had injured her knee in the China Open and had carried this injury through the Japan Open and the nationals. She decided to skip the World Junior Championships so as to not aggravate the injury. She finished runner-up in the Syed Modi India Grand Prix Gold event held in Lucknow in December, after going down to Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri in 3 games in the final.

2013

Sindhu stunned China's Wang Shixian in the second round of the Asian Championships in 3 tough games to reach the quarter-final, but lost to Eriko Hirose of Japan in yet another 3-game clash. She reached her career-best ranking of 15. She won the Malaysian Grand Prix Gold title, beating Singaporean Gu Juan - 21–17, 17–21, 21–19. This was her first Grand Prix Gold title. She participated in the 2013 World Championships, where she was seeded tenth in the draw. Having received a bye in the first round, she defeated Japanese Kaori Imabeppu in the second round in three games 21–19, 19–21, 21–17 and reached the third round. She then downed the defending champion, second-seeded Wang Yihan of China, 21–18, 23–21 to enter the quarter-finals. She set up a meeting with another higher-seeded Chinese player, Wang Shixian, and beat her 21–18, 21–17 to become only India's second medalist in the singles events at the World Championships since Prakash Padukone's bronze medal in 1983. However, she lost in the semi-final to eventual champion Ratchanok Intanon.

Sindhu was awarded the Arjuna Award by the Government of India in recognition of her achievements. In the 2013 Indian Badminton League, she was the captain of the team Awadhe Warriors. Her team qualified for the semi-final, where they beat Mumbai Marathas, but lost in the final to Hyderabad Hotshots. She won the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title by defeating Canada's Michelle Li 21–15, 21–12 in the final.

2014

Sindhu reached the final of the 2014 India Open Grand Prix Gold but lost to her senior compatriot Saina Nehwal. She claimed her first medal at the Asian Championships, a bronze, after beating Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the quarter-finals. She reached the semi-final stage of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the women's singles competition, which she lost narrowly to eventual gold medalist Michelle Li of Canada. She later won against Malaysian Tee Jing Yi to claim the bronze medal.