PV Sindhu created history with her silver medal finish in the women’s singles badminton competition at the Rio Olympics 2016. The 21-year-old surprised everyone with her exploits in Brazil, going where no Indian has ever gone before, but this is not the first time that she's caught the attention of the world.
The shuttler has been one of the big names in Indian badminton scenario since she turned up to defeat the 2012 London Olympics gold medalist Li Xuerui of China as a 17-year old kid in 2012.
Sindhu has been playing the sport professionally since she was just eight years old, which means she has a 13-year long history in the sport already at the age of just 21. It follows, then, that there are several moments which have helped shape her journey so far. We look at the key moments in her career that have made her who she is today:
2003: PV Sindhu took up the racquet at an early age of eight when she was inspired by Pullela Gopichand who had won the 2001 All England Championships. This led to the small kid choosing the sport of badminton over her parents’ sport, volleyball.
2004: The young girl started her first training in the sport with Mehboob Ali at the badminton courts of Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad, which was a big step in making badminton such an integral part of her life.
2005: The shuttler won her first major tournament in the form of the 5th Servo All India ranking championship in the under-10 category. Sindhu also won the singles title at the Ambuja Cement All India ranking at that young age of 10.
2007: A 13-year-old Sindhu went on to win doubles titles in the Under-13 category at four major tournaments, as she won at the IOC All India Ranking, Krishna Khaitan All India Tournament, the Sub-Junior Nationals and the All India Ranking in Pune. This brought the shuttler widespread recognition on the domestic circuit.
2008: Sindhu joined the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, which started a new journey for the shuttler. Accompanied by the man himself, Pullela Gopichand, she would later go on to win many tournaments in the future; Gopichand would help develop the youngster into a brilliant, brilliant player. Back in 2008, Sindhu used to travel more than 50 kilometres everyday to get to her training centre in Hyderabad.
2009: Sindhu saw herself develop into a force to be reckoned with as she won the gold medal in the Under-14 category at the 51st National School Games in India.
In the same year, Sindhu won a bronze medal at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships held in Colombo, which was her first ever international tournament. This indicated that the shuttler was ready to compete globally at such a young age, and she was already said to be ahead of her fellow competitors at that point.
2010: The 15-year-old had become a sensation in the sport of badminton and she bagged her first ever senior medal when she won the silver in the women's singles at the Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge. This achievement also led to the shuttler finding a place in the national team of India at the 2010 Uber Cup.
2012: Sindhu stepped up her pursuit of becoming the best, a goal which had been instilled in her by her coach Gopichand. The 17-year-old saw herself win the gold medal at the Asia Youth Under-19 Championships that year. The icing on the cake came when the youngster defeated Li Xuerui of China, who had just won the gold medal at the London Olympics.
This helped her in progressing to the semi-finals of the Li Ning China Masters Superseries tournament. Her good run of form resulted in the Indian finishing the year at the 15th spot in the world rankings.
2013: Sindhu did not take her foot off the pedal, and she became the champion of the Malaysian Open 2013 – this was her maiden Grand Prix Gold title. But what made the year truly special for Sindhu was that she became India's first medalist in women's singles at the Badminton World Championships.
The shuttler ended the year on a high by also winning the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title. Perhaps the proudest achievement for the shuttler would have been winning the Arjuna Award, one of the highest honours for a sportsperson in the country.
2014: At the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the Indian reached the semifinals in the women's singles category. Later on, she brought glory to the country by winning a bronze in the 2014 Uber Cup held in New Delhi. She then scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win two back-to-back medals at the World Badminton Championships.
At the age of 19, the shuttler was winning accolades all over the world. She finished the year by getting the FICCI Breakthrough Sportsperson of the Year award and also the NDTV Indian of the Year award.
2015: In what was a turning point in her career, Sindhu participated at the Denmark Open where she reached the final after having defeated three seeded players – namely Tai Tzu-Ying, Wang Yihan and Carolina Marin. In November, she also defeated Japan's Minatsu Mitani and bagged her third successive women's singles title at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold.
The shuttler was awarded the Padma Shri award, which is the fourth highest civilian award in India.
2016: The year of the Rio Olympic Games saw the 21-year-old start by winning the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold women's singles title for a second time. The shuttler then made history when she became the first Indian female ever to reach the final of the Olympics badminton tournament in Rio, after defeating the World No. 2 and World No. 6 on her way to the final against Carolina Marin of Spain, where she lost in three hard-fought games.
The 21-year-old has had an impressive journey so far, to say the least, and will be hoping to add even more accolades to it in the years to come.
