PV Sindhu gifts racquet to Kiren Rijiju

Indian badminton poster girl PV Sindhu has gifted a top-quality badminton racket to Union Law Minister and former Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.

PV Sindhu was conferred the Padma Bhusan at a Padma Awards 2020 function by the President of India on Monday.

The Union Law Minister later uploaded a video on social media in which Sindhu can be seen gifting him a badminton racket. The ace shuttler also taught the Union Minister on how to wrap the racket handle grip.

Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter to express his gratitude.

"Huge honour for sports fraternity as @Pvsindhu1 is conferred with Padma Bhushan Award for her achievements in sports for India," he tweeted. "Congratulations !! Thank you Sindhu for gifting me top quality badminton rackets & also for teaching me how to wrap the racket handle grip."

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PV Sindhu conferred with Padma Bhusan

On Monday, President Ram Nath Kovind conferred Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian award, to PV Sindhu.

Speaking to journalists after receiving the Padma Bhushan, Sindhu said:

"It is a proud moment. I am very thankful to the Government of India, all of the ministers and President sir for giving me this award. I am very very happy, these kinds of awards give us a lot of encouragement, support and motivation to do much better in the coming future. I have some upcoming tournaments, so I hope I do well and give my best in them."

PV Sindhu has already been bestowed with the Padam Shri in 2015, India's fourth-highest civilian award, and highest sporting honor in India, the Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (then called Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna) award in 2016.

PV Sindhu - First Indian badminton player to win two Olympic medals

PV Sindhu is the only Indian badminton player to win two Olympic medals. She won a silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and a bronze medal in the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics 2020.

In 2019, she became the first Indian to win the World Badminton Championships, beating Nozomi Okuhara in the final.

PV Sindhu was last seen on court in October when she crashed out of the French Open 2021 after losing to Japan's Sayaka Takahashi in the semi-finals.