Sindhu's Gold at BWF World Championships Ranks As One Of India's Most Notable Sporting Achievements

Sindhu's achievement not only ranks as arguably India's most notable win in badminton but can be rated as one of India's crowning moments in Indian sport.

PV Sindhu

It has been over seventy years since India gained independence from the Colonial British Empire. As a nation, we have come a long way in every sphere and the same holds good for sports. India were already an established powerhouse in hockey courtesy their exploits in the Olympics in the pre-independence era which saw them winning Golds in the 1928-36 Games. India continued their hegemony in hockey by winning Golds at the Olympics till 1964. Besides being the Numero Uno side in hockey, Indian sportsperson made foray into other sports like and made a mark for themselves. In the 60s and 70s, we had world champions in Cue Sports with Micheal Ferrera and Wilson Jones winning the IBSF World Billiards Championships. The golden legacy in billiards and snooker was carried forward by Geet Sethi and Pankaj Advani who went onto becomes multiple World Champions in the 1990s and 2000s. Indian athletics hogged the limelight on the international arena with world class athletes in Milkha Singh, PT Usha, Gurbhachan Singh Randhawa, Anju Bobby George and Shinny Wilson to name a few who brought laurels to the nation by winning medals at the Asian and Commonwealth Games. The Eighties saw Cricket taking over from hockey as India's sports obsession. The Cricket World Cup win in 1983 changed the sporting landscape of the nation forever and made cricket the most popular sport. Indian cricket grew by leaps and bounds and they went onto win become the Number One team in both ODI and T20 cricket. Indian etched a mark in individual sports like Chess and where they produced World Champion in Vishwanathan Anand and a plethora of grand masters. With the turn of the millennium, Indian wrestling and boxing came to the fore with the likes of Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Bajrang Punia, Vijender Singh, MC Marykom and the Phogat Sisters who medaled consistently for India at multiple events of international reckoning. Indian weightlifting was held in good stead by N Kunjarani Devi and Karnam Malleshwari who were world champions at their own time. Shooting and Archery for long remained India's most sought after disciplines. From Jaspal Rana to Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang to Jitu Rai, India won a plethora of medals at the ISSF World Cup, Asian Shooting Championships and the Olympics. When it comes to racquets sports, Indian tennis took center stage with some world class in Ramanathan Krishan, Ramesh Krishnan and Vijay Amritraj, who beat the best in business in Grand Slams. The potent duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won multiple grand slams to become the No.1 Doubles Pair and Saina Mirza followed pursuit by reaching the very pinnacle of women's doubles. In badminton, India had their moments with Prakash Padukone winning bronze at the 1983 World Championships. India became a real force in badminton when player-turned coach Pullela Gopichand  produced shuttlers in Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneth. What followed was Indians winning a spree of titles at the international arena and coming in striking distance of winning gold at the BWF World Championships. On, PV Sindhu eventually broke the long standing jinx and won her maiden gold at the BWF World Championships to become India's first World Champion in Badminton. Sindhu's achievement not only ranks as arguably India's most notable win in badminton but can be rated as one of India's crowning moments in Indian sport.