History in 38 mins!

Twenty-four-year-old shuttler PV Sindhu took India up another very significant notch to glory with her latest accomplishment and became the first Indian ever to clinch a gold medal at Badminton World Championships on August 25. A historic day indeed, she beat Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in a lop-sided final held in Switzerland. This was Sindhu's 5th World Championships medal after the four medals she bagged: bronze in 2013 and 2014, and silver in 2017 and 2018. She has earlier won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016. In this year, she appeared in the final of the Indonesia Open where she lost to Akane Yamaguchi. Sindhu's historic win is a major accomplishment globally as she is the only player to be a defending women's singles medallist at the Olympics, Worlds, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games at the same time. She bloomed under the tutelage of Pullela Gopichand, winning her first Grand Prix gold in the Malaysian Open in May 2013. Adding to her glory, she is also a recipient of Padma Shri. With her Silver at Rio in 2016, she became the first Indian to reach athe badminton singles final at the Olympics. But notwithstanding the tales of glorious achievements, whisking it all aside and lessening it before numerous defeats that lead up to the victory is an unfortunates tendency that still persists in the Indian society at large. Sindhu's gold medal at the world championship also came with some utterly unnecessary criticisms for losing two World Championship finals in 2018 and early 2019. The history she has written at Badminton World Championship is a loud and clear answer to all those doubting voices. Women in sports in India have never had it easy. Sports is not an easy choice of career and very few indeed are in a position to consider this option. And matters are just harder for women. Both of Sindhu's parents are former volleyball players. This does not diminish her hard work by any means but sheds light on the reason for her rise that came in the form of support from her parents. Keeping up with her ambition, her next target is the Olympic gold. Her accomplishment and some much-needed change in attitude in society will eventually promote and encourage sports as a respectable career.