India’s rise in badminton is due to Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu: Chirag Shetty 

India’s ace men’s doubles shuttler Chirag Shetty is of the opinion that India’s spectacular rise to fame in tennis is due to the Olympic medals won by Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. Saina grabbed the bronze medal at the London Olympics in 2012 while Sindhu was the recipient of the silver medal in 2016 Rio Olympics.

He quoted as saying by Press Trust of India (PTI),

"Badminton is currently the second most popular sport in the country after cricket, the meteoric rise of the sport is courtesy of the medals won by Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu at the Olympics."

Shetty participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and succeeded in winning the gold in the mixed team event and silver in the men's doubles with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was further quoted as saying that "They have been the biggest motivation which the sport in our country needed and now everyone who wants to take up badminton professionally believes that it is possible."

Shetty also praised the government for organizing the Khelo India University Games. The Odisha government is organizing the first version of the Khelo India Unversity Games in association with the Sports Authority of India, Association of Indian Universities, National Sports Federation, and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and participating universities. Bhubaneshwar will be hosting the games from February 22 to March 1.

Shetty stressed that it’s important for Indian families to understand that sports can be a career for their kids and they need to be supported to make it big in their choice of sport.

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