Written By: Vikas Jha
Golden girl PV Sindhu – India’s first Badminton World Champion
This Sunday, ace Badminton shuttler PV Sindhu created history by becoming the first Indian to win a BWF World Champion gold medal. This was the fifth time when she grabbed a world championship medal. She completely outperformed her Japanese opponent Nozomi Okuhara beating her 21-7 21-7 in two one-sided sets.
The match was being played in Basel, Switzerland, the hometown of tennis champion Roger Federer. Prior to this, Sindhu was not able to capitalize on the four occasions when she had to satisfy with two bronzes and two silvers. She won a bronze each in the year 2013 and 2014.
Sindhu now stands neck to neck with the common highest medal-winner in women’s singles in the World Championships history with earlier Olympic champion Zhang Ning of China. She holds the same record of winning 1 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze in the period of 2001 and 2007.
Before Sunday’s match, the last time Sindhu and Okuhara contested in a World Championships final was in 2017. That was truly an exciting match that continued for almost two hours comprising 73-shot rally. Okuhara materialized on her strong beginning and finally snatched the medal in the end. Sindhu again reached the final in 2018, however, she was beaten by Carolina Marin of Spain.
Nevertheless, she improved her game and finally fought the misfortune this time, by remaining dominant from the word go. This was the 16th game between Sindhu and Okuhara. Sindhu now leads the battle 9-7, consisting of three victories in the last five games prior to Sunday’s tussle.
Apart from Sindhu’s gold, Sai Praneeth was the first Indian medalist of the tournament who won a bronze in men’s singles category. Both the players have shown the world what Indian players are capable of.
Experts and ex-sports persons feel that this will boost the confidence of not only Sindhu but the other players as well. Olympics are approaching and players are preparing for the big time battle. This win will give shuttlers much-needed energy. This is definitely a good sign for Indian sports.
