Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (born 5 July 1995)[5] is an Indian badminton player.[6] Considered one of India's most successful sportspersons, Sindhu has won medals at various tournaments such as the Olympics and on the BWF circuit, including a gold at the 2019 World Championships. She is the first and only Indian to become the badminton world champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games.[7] She rose to a career-high world ranking of no. 2 in April 2017.[8]
Sindhu broke into the top 20 of the BWF World Rankings in September 2012, at the age of 17.[9] She has won a total of five medals at the BWF World Championships and is only the second woman after China's Zhang Ning ever to win five or more singles medals in the competition. She represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics (Rio), where she became the first Indian badminton player to reach the Olympic final. She won the silver medal after losing out to Spain's Carolina Marín.[10] She made her second consecutive Olympic appearance at the 2020 Summer Olympics (Tokyo) and won a bronze medal, becoming the first-ever Indian woman to win two Olympic medals.[11][12]
Sindhu won her first superseries title at the 2016 China Open and followed it up with four more finals in 2017, winning the titles in South Korea and India. She also won the 2018 BWF World Tour Finals and remains the only Indian player to win a season finale title. In addition to that, she is the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and has won three consecutive singles medals at the Commonwealth Games, a silver medal at the Asian Games, and two bronze medals at the Uber Cup.
With earnings of US$8.5 million, $5.5 million, $7.2 million, $7.1 million and $7.1 million respectively, Sindhu made the Forbes' list of Highest-Paid Female Athletes in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.[13][14][15][16][17] She is a recipient of the sports honours Arjuna Award and Khel Ratna Award, as well as the Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, India's third-highest and fourth-highest civilian awards.
- ^ "PV Sindhu Profile, Stats, Record: PV Sindhu goes after converting bronze medal to gold". The Indian Express. 29 March 2018.
- ^ a b "P. V. Sindhu Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ "All change for India's badminton star P.V. Sindhu in push for Olympic gold". The Straits Times. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
- ^ "World No 2 on 7th April 2017 -". www. bwflive.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ a b "Pusarla V. Sindhu | Profile". bwfbadminton.com. Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ "Pusarla V. Sindhu". BWF. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
- ^ "PV Sindhu joins select group of repeat medalists with Tokyo 2020 bronze". Olympics.com. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "Who Is PV Sindhu". Business Standard India. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ "Sindhu breaks into world top 20 ranking". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 21 September 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
- ^ "PV Sindhu Scripts History, Becomes First Indian Woman To Win Olympic Silver Medal". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
- ^ "PV Sindhu joins select group of repeat medalists with Tokyo 2020 bronze". Olympic Games. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "PV Sindhu wins bronze medal to create history for India at Tokyo Olympics". Hindustan Times. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ Badenhausen, Kurt. "The Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2018". Forbes. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ Badenhausen, Kurt. "The Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2019: Serena And Osaka Dominate". Forbes. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ Knight, Brett. "The Highest-Paid Female Athletes Score A Record $167 Million". Forbes. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ Knight, Brett. "The World's Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2022". Forbes. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ Knight, Brett. "The World's Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2023". Forbes. Retrieved 21 December 2023.