P.V. Sindhu Was Ready For Long Rallies In Final

Intensive training, improved skill and approach and the able guidance of her coaches helped P.V. Sindhu script a historic win at the World Championships

- Neeru Bhatia

THIRTY-SEVEN MINUTES. That is all it took to erase the 110 minutes of pain and agony that P.V. Sindhu endured two years ago at the BWF World Championships. This August 25, she demolished the 2017 world champion Nozomi Okuhara—21-7, 21-7—in the final in Basel, Switzerland. Sindhu’s previous two attempts to become world champion had ended in tears; this time, too, she cried, but for joy. With a 9,000-strong crowd rooting for her, the Olympic silver medallist became the first Indian badminton player to win the gold at the World Championships. She had finally got what she had been missing all this time, Sindhu told THE WEEK.

The first medal for India at the World Championships was a bronze; Prakash Padukone won it in Copenhagen in 1983. The next bronze came 28 years later in a doubles event, thanks to Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. Since 2011, India has never returned empty-handed from the tournament, but the gold had remained elusive. Sindhu, before her golden glory, had won two bronze (2013, 2014) and two silver medals (2017, 2018); Saina Nehwal won a silver in 2015 and a bronze in 2017. B. Sai Praneeth’s bronze in the men’s singles this year is remarkable, too, considering it has been 36 years since Padukone’s feat.