World Champion shuttler PV Sindhu was honoured as the Sportstar of the Year at the Sportstar Aces Awards on Monday. She scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win a World Championships gold medal last year.
Key Takeaways:
- World Champion shuttler PV Sindhu was honoured as the Sportstar of the Year at the Sportstar Aces Awards on Monday.
- PV Sindhu says she is focused to win her second medal at the Olympics.
- While Sindhu was also declared the Sportswoman of the Year (racquet sports), cricketing star Smriti Mandhana emerged as the Sportswoman of the Year (Cricket).
Sindhu is currently competing in Jakarta for the Indonesia Masters, was represented at the event by coach P. Gopichand. “It was a great performance by her at the World Championships. This award will motivate her further during an Olympic year,” he said. “When she was playing in the final of the World Championships, the streets in India were empty. That was wonderful to see,” noted Vijay Amritraj, who hosted a part of the ceremony, The Hindu reported.
Sindhu was in the Forbes list of highest-paid sportswomen in the world, last year. Late last year, Sindhu regained the spot of being the highest-paid woman athlete in India but her ranking slipped from 20 to 63. But she remained the highest paid non-cricket sportsperson on the 2019 Forbes India Celebrity 100 List. “World Championship was really good for me but after that I kept losing in the first rounds but I kept myself positive. It is not possible that you will win all matches. Sometimes you may play brilliantly, sometimes you will make mistakes,” Sindhu had explained to Economic Times.
“I learnt a lot from those mistakes. It is important for me to stay positive, and come back stronger,” Sindhu had earlier said.
High on Olympics dream
“There will definitely be a lot of expectations from me but pressure and criticism doesn’t affect me because people always expect me to win whenever I go. Olympics is the ultimate aim, for anybody,” further adding, “We are doing a lot of work on technique and skill workouts and everything will be planned and it will go well in the Olympic season.”
The 24-year-old from Hyderabad claimed silver at the Rio Olympics. After making her debut in 2009, in 2018 she made it to the Forbes List Of 30 Under 30 Asia list. Asked if her 2019 World Championships gold medal was better than the silver medal she won at the 2016 Rio Olympics, she said, “In 2016, no one expected a Sindhu to do well. Now, there is lot more recognition, expectations high and with that bigger responsibility,” she said. “So, both years are different but with great memories,” Sportstar reported.
The Hyderabad-based badminton player is among India’s favourites for another Olympic medal in 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Talking about what next, she said, “I have a strong desire to win the All England championship title and the ultimate goal is to win the 2020 Olympics gold. Essentially, I am keen to start the New Year on a high in the Malaysian and the Indonesian Opens this month though it is not possible always to keep winning every tournament.”
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