New Delhi: India's shuttle queen PV Sindhu created history on Sunday as she defeated He Bing Jiao of China by 21-13 and 21-15, securing the bronze medal in the women's singles event in badminton at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Up against an opponent, who had beaten her nine times so far in the last 15 meetings, Sindhu showed great determination to outplay Bing Jiao with her aggression to scoop India's third medal at Tokyo. With this, she has become the second Indian and the country's first woman to win two Olympic medals.
Rejoicing the moment, people from all walks of life including President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended wishes to the shuttler for creating history at mega sports event.
Taking to Twitter account, President Ram Nath Kovind said "PV Sindhu becomes the first Indian woman to win medals in two Olympic games. She has set a new yardstick of consistency, dedication and excellence. My heartiest congratulations to her for bringing glory to India."
"We are all elated by the stellar performance by PV Sindhu....She is India’s pride and one of our most outstanding Olympians," PM Modi congratulated PV Sindhu.
"You dominated the game & made history Tokyo 2020! An Olympic medalist twice over! India is so proud of you & awaits your return! You did it," tweeted Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur
Indian Badminton Chief National Coach P Gopichand in a statement congratulated "awesome" PV Sindhu on her 2nd successive Olympics medal. "It is all due to the hard work by her, team of coaches & support staff. I also want to thank Sports Ministry, SAI & BAI,"
This is Sindhu's second Olympic medal. Her first came when she lost the finals of the Rio 2016 Olympics to Carolina Marin of Spain. Sindhu had won a silver medal in 2016.
PV Sindhu had earlier defeated a higher-ranked Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-13, 22-20 in the women's singles quarter-final of badminton at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 1 to secure a place in the semi-final in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics 2020.