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Indian badminton queen PV Sindhu celebrated her birthday on Tuesday. The double Olympic medal winner turned 27 on July 5, which is also celebrated as World Badminton Day.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced that July 5 would be celebrated as World Badminton Day from this year.
Sindhu is busy with her training and preparations as she is currently competing at the Malaysia Masters Badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur. The World No. 7 will take on He Bing Jiao of China in the first round on Wednesday.
The former world champion had beaten the same opponent 21-13, 21-15, to clinch the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year. Sindhu’s family is missing her on her birthday as she is away from her home in Hyderabad.
PV Ramana, Sindhu's father, is happy that her daughter’s birthday will now be celebrated worldwide as World Badminton Day. He told Sportskeeda on Tuesday:
“Ideally, we would want Sindhu to be at our Hyderabad home on her birthday. But playing tournaments is also important and it is not the first time that she has been away from Hyderabad on her birthday. However, we are happy that Sindhu’s birthday is also World Badminton Day from this year. It’s a happy coincidence."
Badminton Asia Technical Committee also said sorry to Sindhu for their mistake today: Ramana
Former Arjuna Award winner Ramana said on Tuesday that the Badminton Asia Technical Committee Chairman has apologized for the 'April incident' on Tuesday.
The error happened during Sindhu’s match with Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, where she lost in three games and had to settle for bronze. Sindhu was leading 14-11 in the second game after having won the first one. The umpire handed Sindhu a one-point penalty for taking too much time to serve between points.
This caused Sindhu to lose her momentum and she lost the game to Yamaguchi 21-13, 19-21, 16-21. Sindhu was notably reduced to tears after the incident.
Speaking about Chairman Chih Shen Chen's apology, PV Ramana said:
“The Badminton Asia Technical Committee Chairman Chih Shen Chen has apologized to Sindhu for the 'human error' committed by the referee during the women’s singles semifinal of the Badminton Asia Championships in April. So it was a memorable day and a day to remember for all of us."
