Carrying the
burden of aspirations of billion odd people, 21-year old, Pusarla Venkata
Sindhu entered the fray to chase the gold dream. Poised to fight the World no1
Carolina Marin, Sindhu demonstrated a methodical style of playing pocketing the
first game 21-19 but soon the World Champion, armed with tactics of play,
prevailed over the court and dominated the match with lightning fast returns.
Despite her best efforts, Sindhu had to concede the second game 12-21.
Regaining her original form Sindhu hit back in third game and it was a close
call when the players were tied 10-10. But eventually Marin’s game plan
penetrated Sindhu’s defensive which has been her forte to set her hands on the
gold medal. Sindhu, as a debutant earned the well-deserved silver medal and
made an indelible mark on Indians hearts with her stupendous efforts. With this
medal, she has become the first ever female athlete to win a silver medal. In
fact, she is now the youngest Indian to ever win medal at the Olympics. Sindhu
in her first Olympics went down fighting as a seasoned and aggressive player.
The fighting spirit displayed in Rio makes her the most promising player of
present times.
India
Olympic contingent represented by 119 strong athletes began its campaign at the
Rio games on a high note. But the initial near misses and close encounter
losses nearly drowned India’s chances of repeating a spectacular show at London
Olympics 2012 where India held 2 silver and 4 bronze medals. Medal hopes
continued to elude India. While the preparations for Rio were extremely robust
and the performances of the athletes representing the team India were all time
high, a rare enigma overwhelmed the Indian contingent. After a virtual medal
drought for 12 days, light shone on India with Sakshi Malik winning a bronze
medal in 58kg women’s wrestling category. The medal not only brought cheer to
Indian camp but medal prospects in Badminton looked much brighter with Kidamabi
Srikanth and PV Sindhu back to winning ways.
Badminton
players entered the Rio games as hot favorites. But Saina Nehwal’s,
defeat in the preliminaries dimmed medal hopes. World no.5 Saina, Bronze
medalist at London games crashed out in the preliminary round losing
18-21,19-21 to a World No.61 Ukranian player Maria Ulitina, in a match that lasted
39 minutes, while enduring excruciating knee pain. India’s another medal
hope, Sindhu was placed in the draw of three of the top eight players in the
World. Though Sindhu has proved her mettle in pulling off easy victories
against higher ranking players, Olympics is altogether a different ball game.
In Group M match, she defeated Hungarian Laura Sarosi 21-8, 21-9. In the
preliminaries she was pitched against World No. 20 Michelle Li of Canada, who
defeated her at the Common Wealth Games.
In the three game match Sindhu had dropped a game giving a pang of doubt about
her consistency for the next levels. But she battled real hard and bounced back
in the most lethal way to win convincingly 19-21, 21-15, 21-17. In round 16 she
decimated Tai Tzu-ying of Taipei Rank 8, known for her beguiling moves in
straight games. By stunning the World No.2 Wang Yihan, Silver Medalist of the
London Games in the Quarter finals, Sindhu crossed an insurmountable barrier.
In the close contest that lasted for 54 minutes, Sindhu clinched the match
22-20, 21-19. Sindhu’s spirited performance reignited India’s hopes of medal
even as top notch players crashed out under pressure. In the Semi-Finals Sindhu
outplayed the World No 6 Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, in straight games, 21-19, 21-10.
Sindhu literally devastated the morale of the opponent in the second game by
winning 11 straight points and sealed a victory in style. Semi-Final conquest
ensured Sindhu of a silver medal.
Born on July
5th, 1995 to iconic Volley ball players Vijaya and Ramana, Sindhu got attracted
to Badminton at a young age and pursued the sport with passion under the
tutelage of Pullela Gopichand. Hailed as the second best Indian Badminton
player after Prakash Padukone, his crowning achievements Include-Gold Medal at SAARC
tournament, Silver medal in team event, bronze medal in Singles at 1998 Common
Wealth Games, Scottish Open, Indian Open, All England Championship. As a token
of appreciation for winning the All England Championship, government of Andhra
Pradesh donated Gopichand 5 acres where he set up Gopichand Badminton academy
with facilities of international standards at Gacchibowli, Hyderabad.
Government of India bestowed him with Arjuna Award, Rajiv Khel Ratna, Padma
Shri, Dronacharya Award and Padma Bhushan. Incidentally, Sindhu’s father was
awarded Arjuna Award for his sporting abilities in Volley Ball the same year as
Gopichand. Sindhu’s success story owes its origins to the Academy. Enamored by
the flight of shuttle, Sindhu joined the academy in 2004.
She initially
apprenticed under Mehboob Ali at the Badminton courts of Indian Railway
Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications, Secunderabad. During
the initial years of training since Sindhu’s family stayed 30 km away from
academy she would travel 120 km a day to attend morning and evening sessions.
Finally, Sindhu’s family shifted to a place closer to the academy. Steadily
Sindhu scaled new heights in the game under the guidance of Gopichand.
She performed extremely well in the domestic arena at an early age and some of
the distinguished land marks crossed her include-Servo All India Ranking
Championship for under-10, won Ambuja Cements Singles title, gold medal at
National School Games for under-14. She eventually found place in Uber Cup by
2010. By 2012, she was under-19 Asia youth champion and stunned the London
games Gold medallist Li Xuerui and reached semi-finals of Li Ning China Masters
Super Series. In 2013, she won Malaysian Open Grand prix gold title and also
became first medallist at badminton world championship. She was conferred
Arjuna Award in 2013 and the same year she won Macau Open Grand Prix Gold title
and continued to win it three consecutive years. She managed to win
back-to-back World Badminton Championship in 2014 and entered into top 10 World
rankings. Sindhu defeated all the three seeded players –Wang Yihan, Carolina
Marin and Tai Tzu-ying in 2015. In 2015, she has become youngest player to be
awarded Padma Shri. This year, besides winning the Macau Open Grand Prix
Gold, she won Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold despite suffering an injury.
Indeed the astounding career peaks of Sindhu are shaped and chiseled by
Gopichand, who is a hard taskmaster and relentlessly pushes his students to
challenge themselves. Reckoned as leitmotif of discipline, Gopichand would
himself arrive at the academy by 4 am every day. The first session of the day
is dedicated to senior students like Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth. Being a
fitness-freak at an age of 42, he toils hard to remain fit and agile. Coming
from a family of sports persons, Sindhu had an inherent athleticism and
propitious physical attributes. Over the years, through hard work and intense
toil, Sindhu steadily acquired the quintessential attributes of dexterous
footwork and masterly execution of strokes. Under the meticulous training of
Gopichand she clocked career high ranking of World No.9 in 2014. Despite her
glorious achievements, Sindhu never got the attention she deserved for all her
achievements are shadowed by the illustrious player Saina Nehwal who sizzled
like a star on international badminton platform. By winning bronze at London
Olympics Saina scripted history to become first Indian badminton player to
reach such a milestone. She reigned as the undisputed queen. With her path-breaking
achievements, she remained the cynosure of all eyes. Sindhu was considered as
the dark horse. Indeed the absence of spotlight helped Sindhu to silently
introspect and rejuvenate herself from the harsh defeats she suffered. But
steadily as Sindhu began to accumulate trophies and make a mark in the
badminton arena, sporting experts began to take stock of this budding
powerhouse of talent.
Under the
operation Rio, unveiled by Gopichand for his students, Sindhu and Srikanth, he
further intensified training and recruited special fitness trainers to work on
the task of building strength, stamina and endurance of his students. Just like
a military sergeant Gopichand worked and trained his “racquet wielding
soldiers’” battle ready for Olympics. The results of the meticulous training
seems to have yielded fruits. In fact, besides exuding the grit of a sportsman,
Sindhu’s gesture on the court just minutes after her defeat earned her lot of
accolades from near and far. After the winning stroke, as tears of joy erupted,
Marin collapsed on her knees to the ground. Sindhu despite grieving like a
wounded soldier, lent a hand to her opponent to get up, hugged her and gently
put away her racquet where it belonged. The extraordinary sportsmanship
reflected her simplicity and gentleness of a young lady.
The journey to Olympic finals was not easy. Undeniably Sindhu’s rise to
crescendo reminded the old Gurukula culture
of Indian civilization reflecting the unique bondage of Guru Dronacharya and Arjuna. Guru Dronacharya, a wise and
inspired teacher recognizing immense potential and determination of Arjuna, chisels him with extra
efforts and care to transforms him into an unassailable warrior. While the
apocryphal parallels drawn to the current scenario may seem to be outstretched,
India desperately needs contemporary Dronacharyas
to revive its ailing sports arena.
Sindhu made
history by reaching the pinnacles of the sport not scaled by any other Indian
female athlete. Karnam Malleswari scripted history becoming first women to
clinch a bronze medal in Olympics. Later, Saina Nehwal, Mary Kom and Sakshi
Malik earned similar majestic honors. With an Olympic Silver, Sindhu surpassed
the sporting icons and also raised the bar of aspirations for millions of young
women. For the initial 12 days of Olympics, the medal-starved nation fervently
prayed for a saving grace. The prayers were answered by Indian girl power who
pounced back on the opponents as wounded tigresses and earned laurels for India
through rare grit, determination and inexhaustible toil. Ironically despite the
crushing weight of patriarchy, orthodox norms and gender suppression, it was
the indomitable spirit of woman power that has revived spirits of 1 billion
people and restored pride of India among comity of nations.
@ Copyrights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment