Hyderabad: Four years back on this day, August 19, a country starved of Olympic champions got a taste of success in the pinnacle of sporting events, the Olympic Games when PV Sindhu fetched India a silver medal in badminton in Rio de Janeiro. Sindhu's silver came as a fresh air of hope to India's rather desolate campaign in Rio 2016.
It was India's second successive Olympic medal in badminton in the Olympic Games. In the 2012 London Olympics, Saina Nehwal won a bronze medal. In a span of four years, Sindhu's shining silver marked the consistency of Indian badminton and heralded India's rise as a badminton powerbase.
Born to parents who are former Indian volleyball players, Sindhu was performing well in the international circuit. But before the 2016 Olympics, she had to overcome a serious stress fracture that she suffered in 2015. So, when she began her campaign expectation was not too high on her. All the eyes were on star shuttler Saina Nehwal. But as Saina crashed out of the Olympics from the group stage following a defeat to Ukraine’s Maria Ulitina, most of the Indians turned their back to a chance of winning a medal in badminton.
Spectacular run at Rio
But to their disbelief, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, who was a few years into her adulthood, absorbed the pressure and emerged as a medal contender. In 2016 Rio Olympics, Sindhu put up a spirited show to beat three top shuttlers within three days on her road to the Olympic silver. These three players were ranked in top 10 in BWF Women's Singles Rankings.
Ranked 10th in the world, Sindhu started her campaign with a quick 21-8, 21-9 win over Laura Sarosi. In the second match, Sindhu held her nerves and bounced back from one game down to advance to the last 16 with 19-21, 21-15, 21-17 win over Canadian Michelle Li.
In the pre-quarters, PV Sindhu notched up a fantastic win thrashing Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-Ying 21-13, 21-15. Her dominating show continued as she got better of Wang Yihan, 22-20, 21-19, to reach the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Nozomi Okuhara of Japan was in front of her. Sindhu had beaten her only once at that point. It was expected that the match would run into the third game. But the Hyderabadi shuttler was on a gutsy form as she capitalised on Okuhara’s errors to settle into a rhythm and eventually win the match 21-19, 21-10. It was Sindhu's first straight-game win against Okuhara and fourth in the Rio Olympics. Carrying on her indomitable form Sindhu entered the final and became the first Indian to reach the grand finale of the Olympic badminton final.
With these victories, Sindhu demonstrated her ability and proved that she belongs to the top strata of women's singles badminton.
Marathon final
On Friday, the August 19th, the final was set between PV Sindhu and Spain's Carolina Marin. Together they notched an epic of badminton. It was a treat for fans. Amid an electric atmosphere, the battle was all about nerves. Marin bagged the nail-biting first game 21-19. In the second game, Sindhu turned things around in her favour making it a one-sided affair. The Indian won it 21-12 showing her dominative nature. However, in the third game, with the match level at 1-1 Marin recovered quickly from the heartbreak of defeat and outclassed the Indian to win the gold. Sindhu lost the game 15-21 and the match 2-1 to finish her debut Olympic campaign with the Olympic silver. She won it within 18 hours after Sakshi Malik's bronze medal haul in 58kg women's wrestling.
Reflecting on the final Sindhu once said, “I never gave up till the very end." “I came back from 16-19 to win five straight points to win the first game. So, it was always playing in my mind that anything could still happen," she said.
Sindhu might have lost the match, but the fight she gave to the Spanish player was massive. It was not a one-sided match at all. She put up a monumental effort to achieve the silver medal, a rare feat in the history of Indian badminton. Before her, only three Indians won the Olympic silver in the individual category.
To be precise, Sindhu's silver didn't break the heart of Indians. It rather came as a pleasant surprise to her fellow citizens. The Olympic silver medal made her the undisputed queen of Indian badminton. Carrying on her legacy in Indian badminton, she went on to win several medals, including the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold. But successive silver medals in Asian Games and World Championships earned her an unwanted moniker of 'Silver Sindhu'.
Nevertheless, she has been struggling to get rid of this moniker. In 2019, she finally got rid of the tag at the BWF World Championships in Basel taking the women's singles gold from defending champion Carolina Marin, who trounced Sindhu in the 2016 Rio Olympics final. It took her three attempts to achieve another first for Indian badminton. In 2017 and 2018 World Championships, Sindhu had to settle down for silver medals. So, in 2019 her 21-7, 21-7 straight games victory over Okuhara finally made her the world champion and ultimate star of Indian badminton.
The world champion and Olympic silver medallist, Sindhu, will now be determined to complete her ascendency in world badminton finishing on top of the podium in Tokyo next year.
