PV Sindhu reminisces how her life changed after winning Olympic silver on Aug 20 seven years ago | Badminton News
It was on the memorable date of August 20, 2016, when she clinched the silver medal on the Rio Olympics, participating in an electrifying battle within the ladies’s singles ultimate towards Spain’s Carolina Marin.
Undoubtedly, profitable her first Olympic medal marked a pivotal turning level in her life. This achievement served because the catalyst for a string of subsequent victories, propelling her to safe quite a few medals in prestigious tournaments such because the World Championships, Asian Video games and the Commonwealth Video games.
“Seven years in the past, I launched into a journey that will endlessly change my life. Trying again, it is exhausting to consider that it has been seven lengthy years since that momentous day after I proudly gained my first Olympic medal in Rio,” she wrote in a publish on social media platform ‘X’, previously twitter.
“It was a silver, a shining image of my dedication, exhausting work, and the unwavering help of my coaches, teammates, and followers.”
Merely 21 years outdated at the moment, Sindhu had relinquished her benefit after profitable the primary sport, finally falling 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 to Marin within the intense Olympic ultimate showdown. This encounter marked the inception of a sequence of comparable fierce contests between the 2 rivals within the years that adopted.
“One of the crucial exceptional chapters of this journey has been the extraordinary rivalry on the court docket, particularly the battles towards Carolina. The journey to the ultimate was a testomony to the grit and dedication that each of us dropped at the sport,” Sindhu wrote.
“The three-set marathon ultimate was nothing in need of extraordinary, a show of ability, perseverance, and sportsmanship.”
Hailing from Hyderabad and now 28 years of age, Sindhu went on to safe a pair of silver medals in 2017 and 2018, alongside a golden triumph in 2019, on the World Championships, additional enhancing her assortment that features two bronze medals. Including to her accolades, she clinched a silver medal on the 2018 Asian Video games, secured a bronze on the Tokyo Olympics, and achieved a Commonwealth Video games gold in 2022.
Sadly, the present season has not unfolded favorably for her. Following her return to competitors after a demanding five-month recuperation interval as a result of an harm, Sindhu has grappled with wavering efficiency consistency. A string of untimely exits from tournaments led to a fall within the rankings, inserting her on the seventeenth place on the planet.
“At the moment, as I stand at this juncture, I am not simply celebrating the medals and the wins. I am celebrating the spirit of resilience, the pursuit of excellence and the braveness to chase desires,” Sindhu wrote.
“Here is to the seven years which were a mixture of highs and lows, challenges and victories, however above all, a testomony to the facility of perseverance!!!”.
Presently holding the fifteenth spot in ladies’s singles world rankings, Sindhu stays optimistic that her unwavering dedication will, but once more, empower her to overcome adversities as she embarks on her journey in Copenhagen, Denmark, within the upcoming week.
With a bye granted to Sindhu, she is poised to face the victor rising from the conflict between Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara and Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen.
(With company inputs)
