PV Sindhu - Career, achievements and more as Indian badminton star aims for hat-trick of Olympic medals at 2024 Paris

The start of the Paris Olympics 2024 is only a few days away and the 29-year-old Indian badminton player, PV Sindhu will be one of the country's biggest hopes for a medal at the world event.

In this article, The Sporting News looks at the Indian badminton star's career, her achievements and more importantly, her form ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024.

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Who is PV Sindhu?

Born on July 5, 1995, in Hyderabad, Telangana, (then Andhra Pradesh), Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is one of the most iconic sportswomen in the country, having won countless titles in her career which includes becoming the first Indian to become a badminton world champion, in 2019.

Moreover, she is only one of the two Indian athletes in Olympic history to win two medals at individual events at the mega event. On her Olympic debut in Rio 2016, she clinched silver and won a bronze during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

Sindhu was born into a sporting family -- her parents were volleyball players at the national level. Having inherited sporting genes, she was naturally inclined and destined to become a champion athlete.

However, she did not take up volleyball as her career, after drawing inspiration from watching Pullela Gopichand playing badminton, making it the reason why she took up the sport, which she began to regularly play by the age of eight.

After learning the basics of the sport under the guidance of Mehboob Ali at the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad, she joined her idol Pullela Gopichand's "Gopichand Badminton Academy", for which she had to travel a distance of 56km daily.

Gopichand, her then coach, said that: "the most striking feature in Sindhu's game is her attitude and the never-say-die spirit." as he acknowledged the youngster's hard work and commitment to the game.

PV Sindhu - Early career

After joining Gopichand's badminton academy, Sindhu won several junior badminton titles.

In the Under-10 category, she won the fifth Servo All India ranking championship in the doubles category and the singles title at the Ambuja Cement All India ranking.

In the Under-13 category, she won the singles title at the Sub-juniors in Pondicherry, doubles titles at the Krishna Khaitan All India Tournament IOC All India Ranking, the Sub-Junior Nationals and the All India Ranking in Pune.

She also won the under-14 team gold medal at the 51st National State Games in India, making it clear that she was ready to compete with the best, at the international level.

In 2009, at the age of 14, Sindhu won the bronze medal in the sub-junior Asian Badminton Championships and in 2010, she won a silver in the singles at the International Badminton Challenge, in Iran.

She won a bronze medal at the 2011 Asian Junior Championships and in the very next year, in 2012, she won a gold at the same tournament. Throughout her career and with time, Sindhu's game has only seen an upward trajectory, with notable improvement year after year.

In 2013, she won a gold at the Malaysian Grand Prix and was recognized for her achievements with an Arjuna award, by the Indian government. 

PV Sindhu's performances in world events

PV Sindhu has been known to bring out to her best performances in the big events, be it the Badminton World Championships (BWC), Commonwealth games or the Olympic games.

In 2013 and 2014, she won two bronze medals in back of back world championships events. In 2017 and 2018, she won two silver medals in consecutive world championships as well. Finally, in 2019, she was able to claim the gold medal at the BWC in Switzerland, as she beat Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7, in the final.

She made her Commonwealth games (CWG) debut in the year 2014, where she won a bronze medal at the women's singles. Four years later, in the 2018 edition of the CWG, she won a silver at the women's singles and a gold at the mixed team event. Finally, at the 2022 CWG, she was able to clinch the gold in the women's singles.

She had suffered a stress fracture injury in 2015 and was out of the game for six months, but she still managed to book a place in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

PV Sindhu - consecutive medals at the Olympic games

One of her biggest moments of her career came at the 2016 Rio Olympic games, where she won a silver medal after losing to Spain's Carolina Marina in the Finals.

Nevertheless, it was a big achievement as she became only the second badminton player to win a medal at the Olympics, after Saina Nehwal's bronze in the 2012 London Olympics. This contributed to her finding national fame and appreciation in the country.

In the following Olympic games in Tokyo 2020, Sindhu's strong run in the tournament came to an end in the semi-finals, but settled for a bronze medal, after winning the clash for the third place against China's He Bing Jiao.

She is only the second Indian player to win two medals at the Olympic games.

PV Sindhu - Form ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics

PV Sindhu will be making her third consecutive appearance at the Olympics in the 2024 Paris Games. However, she is not in her best form as she is ranked 13th in the BWF world rankings currently. 

Moreover, it has been two years since she won a title at the 2022 BWF World Tour event. Sindhu, who was in very good form, suffered an ankle injury following the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where she won the gold. Since the injury, her form had taken a slump. 

To make things worse, she suffered another injury, this time to her knee, at the French Open in 2023, causing further issues for the badminton star.

This has led to her losing out in the early rounds in 16 events, in the last two years, and therefore, has been on an inconsistent run before the Olympics 2024.

She has struggled to finish games despite being in winning positions. Further, she has a poor record against the top five players in the world, with Spain's Carolina Marin getting the better of her multiple times, while World Number 1, An Se Young, has been unbeaten against Sindhu in seven previous meetings.

However, if we look at her career, she has always stepped up during major events and with such a track record, she also has the backing of former world number 1, Saina Nehwal, who said: "You cannot judge any player from the results of the last 6-7 months."

Ahead of the Paris Olympics, PV Sindhu herself spoke of her expectations at the 2024 games, saying that her goal is to add a gold medal to her collection, after winning the silver and bronze, in the years 2016 and 2020, respectively.

"That third medal at Paris definitely motivates me, and I am going all-out to get that gold medal. For me, the Olympics is where I give my 200%. I hope that I can fulfil the hope of the nation and get the third medal because getting three consecutive medals is not a joke. My mindset is focused on winning the gold and this gives me a lot of motivation and confidence" said Sindhu, on Jio Cinema's "The Dreamers" show.

"The Olympics is extremely competitive, and all the athletes are at their peak. The top 10-15 players in the world are of the same standard, be it the likes of AN Se Young, Akane Yamaguchi, Carolina Marin, or TAI Tzu Ying. There are no easy points at the Olympics, and we need to play hard for every point we score against an opponent. Anything can happen at the Olympics; one small mistake can change everything," Sindhu added.

List of major achievements of Indian badminton player PV Sindhu

Here is a list of medals won by Indian badminton star in major competitions, PV Sindhu in her career so far:

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