Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, professionally known as P. V. Sindhu, is an Indian professional badminton player from Hyderabad, Telangana. She is widely regarded as one of India's greatest badminton players and became the first Indian to win the BWF World Championships gold medal in 2019. Sindhu is also a two-time Olympic medallist, having won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, making her the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals.
| Full name | Pusarla Venkata Sindhu |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 5 July 1995 |
| Place of birth | Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), India |
| Sport | Badminton |
| Event | Women's singles |
| Handedness | Right-handed |
| Coaches | Pullela Gopichand (formative years), later Park Tae-sang and others |
| Training base | Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy, Hyderabad |
| Parents | P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya (both former volleyball players) |
| Major honours | Padma Shri (2015), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2020), Padma Bhushan (2020) |
Sindhu was born to P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya, both former international volleyball players. Her father was a member of the Indian volleyball team that won the bronze medal at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2000. Despite her family's volleyball background, Sindhu chose badminton, inspired by the success of Pullela Gopichand at the 2001 All England Open.
She began training under Mehboob Ali at the badminton courts of the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad before joining the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy.
Sindhu made her mark on the international junior circuit at an early age. She won the under-10 singles title at the 5th Servo All India Ranking championship and went on to claim multiple junior titles in India and abroad, marking her as a promising prospect.
Sindhu broke into the world's top 20 of the BWF rankings in September 2012 at the age of 17. In 2013, she became the first Indian woman to win a singles medal at the BWF World Championships, taking bronze in Guangzhou, China. She defended her bronze at the 2014 World Championships in Copenhagen.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Sindhu reached the women's singles final, defeating world number two Wang Yihan and former Olympic champion Nozomi Okuhara en route. She lost the gold medal match to Carolina Marín of Spain but won silver, becoming the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal.
Sindhu reached the World Championships finals in 2017 (Glasgow) and 2018 (Nanjing), winning silver on both occasions. She also won the BWF World Tour Finals title in 2018, becoming the first Indian to do so. She secured silver medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Asian Games.
At the 2019 BWF World Championships in Basel, Switzerland, Sindhu defeated Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the final to claim the gold medal, becoming the first Indian to win a World Championship gold in badminton.
At the rescheduled 2020 Olympics held in 2021, Sindhu won the bronze medal by defeating He Bingjiao of China in the third-place play-off, becoming the first Indian woman and second Indian athlete overall to win two individual Olympic medals.
At the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Sindhu won the women's singles gold medal and contributed to India's mixed team silver.
Sindhu is known for her aggressive baseline play, height advantage, powerful smashes, and steep angles of attack. Her endurance and ability to extend rallies have made her competitive against top Asian and European opponents.
Sindhu has been associated with several brands as one of India's most marketable athletes. She holds the position of Deputy Sports Manager with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). In December 2022, she launched her own academy in Hyderabad in association with Suchitra Academy.
P. V. Sindhu's achievements have significantly raised the profile of badminton in India, following the trail blazed by Pullela Gopichand and Saina Nehwal. Her sustained success at the Olympics and World Championships has made her a global ambassador for Indian sport and inspired a generation of young Indian players, particularly women, to take up the sport competitively.