PV Sindhu: The burgeoning saga

India’s world no.12 PV Sindhu stunned Olympic silver medalist and former world no.1 Wang Yihan in a round of 16 encounter at the World Championships in Guangzhou. This win is a harbinger of future laurels that are going to be synonymous with Sindhu’s name.

A rising star and India’s next badminton queen, PV Sindhu has shown the world what she is capable of. It is not about what happened today, but about what has been happening for the past few years. Last year, she stunned Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui in a post-Olympic Super series event.

Next was a stunning win over former no.1 Wang Shixiang at the 2013 Badminton Asia Championships. Today, she has felled a third world no.1 player from China.

This lanky woman, another protégé of Gopichand’s, is one who possess a “never-say-die” spirit, in the words of her mentor. After achieving success at the junior stage and a few low level tournaments, she started playing higher level tournaments from 2011-12. She soon started qualifying for main draws of Super Series events. Her good performances at the highest level saw her climb the rankings ladder and breach the top 20 in September 2012, and she is now inching closer to a top 10 spot.

A determined young woman, Sindhu has seen a few injuries hinder her progress in the past few years. Earlier this year, she developed a knee injury at the Sudirman cup and this is the first event she is playing since then. Yet, she has not let her concentration waver and is keen on improving her performance.

Her love and passion for the sport is immense. Last December, she decided to skip her elder sister’s wedding to play the finals of a Grand Prix Gold event in Lucknow. “I will try to win the tournament and give it as a gift to her”, she was quoted saying. Alas, she couldn’t do it back then. But many other titles and laurels await her, for her perseverance and hard work will not fail her. She used to travel for around 56 kilometers from her residence every day to train at Gopichand’s academy until her parents relocated near the academy. Even the distance and the prospect of being subject to long and arduous journeys couldn’t dent her commitment.

Last year, she reached the semifinals of the Malaysian GPG and was celebrated for being the only woman apart from Saina to reach that stage. This year, at the same event, she went two steps ahead to clinch the gold medal, her first at this level. Having just turned 18, Sindhu has many long years to play. She has in her the ability to play solid badminton and threaten the might of the Chinese and many other upcoming women’s badminton players.

This is her first World Championships and she is already into the quarterfinals. Another opponent awaits to challenge her – Wang Shixian. There is no reason to believe that she cannot produce an encore of their previous meeting. If she wins, she could face Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand or Carolina Marin of Spain in the semifinals.

The Thai and the Spaniard, along with Sindhu, represent a new generation of players ready to take on the might of the Chinese and have already succeeded in varying degrees. These three, who once occupied the top three spot at the junior level, now endeavor to emulate that feat at the senior level too. All the three making it to the quarterfinals of the World Championships is just an indicator of that.

For Sindhu, a medal here would mean a lot to her, because of her hard work and determination. And for the nation, it would be another proud feat by an upcoming player which will entice more and more youngsters to step into badminton courts around the world.