PV Sindhu is India’s top medal prospect in Tokyo Olympics.© AFP
Rio 2016 women’s badminton singles silver medallist PV Sindhu is yet again India’s top medal prospect among the four badminton players qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Sindhu will be spearheading India’s quest to corner a gold in a sport that has brought medals of other hue at the Olympic level. The silver medal in Rio 2016 was the pinnacle moment of Sindhu’s career and later she went on winning the gold medal in the BWF World Championship in 2019 by crushing Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in a one-sided final which lasted for just 36 minutes. Her talent rose to new stardom, as she is the only Indian to win the BWF World Championship title.
The 26-years old also avenged her Rio setback in the Indian Open 2017 after defeating Carolina Marin in straight games to claim her first Indian Open title. She also defeated 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal in the quarter-final of that tournament and world number 2 Sung Ji Hyun in the semi-finals en route to her Indian Open title win in 2017.
She drew attention and praise for her performances after she broke into the top 20 of the Badminton World Federation rankings in 2012 when Saina was in high praise after winning a bronze at the London Olympics.
The Hyderabad-based Sindhu qualified for the Tokyo Olympics comfortably as she within the top ten in the BWF rankings. But in her last professional event that was the All England Open, she was knocked out by Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in the semi-finals. Sindhu was supposed to play in the India Open, Singapore Open, and Malaysia Open which got cancelled or postponed due to the COVID pandemic.
Promoted
Sindhu will be eyeing to better her score in the absence of Marin, the gold medallist of the last quadrennial event. Marin is out from Tokyo Olympics with an injury to her left knee.
Sindhu had achieved a lot in the last few years and she is the hope of the entire nation to come back with a medal in Tokyo Olympics.
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