P.V. Sindhu

I’m As one of the leading badminton players in the world, P.V.Sindu has won medals at numerous tournaments including the Olympics. She is widely regarded as India’s most successful badminton star of this century, and won gold at the 2019 World Championship becoming the first Indian to become Badminton World Champion. Sindu was also the first Indian to reach an Olympic final when she won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, becoming a national hero. In 2019 she became the first Indian to win badminton World Championship gold and recently reached number 2 in the Women’s Singles world rankings. Sindu was named BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year in March 2020, and the shuttler is a huge medal prospect for India at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Born Pusarla Venkata Sindhu in Hyderabad, Sindhu grew up in a sporting family with both parents national level volleyball players. Badminton caught her attention after seeing Pullela Gopichand play, and she became a regular player herself by the time she was eight. As a junior, she played for her hero Gopichand’s academy, and began to win numerous junior titles before hitting the international stage.

In 2014 she attended her first Commonwealth Games, winning the women’s singles bronze medal. Two years later she beat some of the biggest names in badminton, including Japanese superstar Nozumi Okuhara to reach the Olympic final in Rio. Sindhu lost out to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the final, but won the hearts of her nation after taking home the silver medal. Sinhu made Forbes’s list of Highest-Paid Female Athletes for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019, and now has her sights set on the biggest prize of all – Olympic Gold.