P.V. Sindhu becomes first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals, makes history

P.V. Sindhu made history on Sunday by becoming the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals. The country's star athlete bagged bronze in the women's singles event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In addition to being the first and only Indian woman to win two Olympic medals, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (P.V. Sindhu) is also only the fourth woman to bag medals at two consecutive Olympics. She had won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Prior to her, Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar was the only Indian that bagged medals at two Olympic games.

In a conversation with India Today, Sindhu stated that she is eyeing bagging gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. "I will be there in Paris, so definitely I will give my best and play my best," said Sindhu in the interview.

The Indian badminton player lost out on securing gold or silver after her defeat in the semifinals to Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu-Ying, but rallied and went on to beat China's He Bing Jiao to secure the bronze medal.

"It makes me feel really happy because I've worked hard for so many years. I had a lot of emotions going through me - should I be happy that I won bronze or sad that I lost the opportunity to play in the final? But overall, I had to close off my emotions for this one match and give it my best, my all and think about the emotions. I'm really happy and I think I've done really well. It's a proud moment getting a medal for my country," she said.

She also told India Today that she dedicates the medal to victims of the Covid-19 pandemic. "We have gone through a lot of things, pandemic, lockdown and a lot of people have been suffering, so I hope this medial is dedicated to all of them and also to my family members, support staff and to my coach and all my sponsors because everybody has come to a standstill in this pandemic," she said.

She also urged everyone to take precautions against the virus, adding that: "I hope this medal changes and everything comes back to normal. Everyone should be careful and everyone should take care of themselves because we have to get used to the new normal."

Sindhu secured bronze in the badminton women's singles third-place play-off match against China's He Bing Jiao 21-13, 21-15. P.V. Sindhu is ranked 7th on the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) women's singles World Rankings, while He Bing Jiao is ranked 9th.

China's Chen Yu Fei bagged gold for the women's singles event, while Tai Tzu-Ying secured silver.