India yesterday swelled with pride after badminton champion P.V. Sindhu became the first woman in the country’s history to win an Olympic silver medal.
The shuttler was unable to strike gold, but clinched the silver with her aggressive defense as she forced world No. 1, Carolina Marin of Spain, to three games in the women’s singles final on Friday.
Indian newspaper front pages yesterday led with her historic win, hailing the 21-year-old for boosting the country’s Olympic tally, which earlier stood at a single medal, female wrestler Sakshi Malik’s bronze.
Photo: AP
“Thank You,” beamed the Indian Express newspaper, describing her victory “as good as gold,” while a Times of India headline declared “Sindhu shows silver mettle.”
Fans in the badminton star’s home city of Hyderabad in southern India took to the streets late on Friday, cheering and waving national flags as she was crowned the country’s youngest and most successful female Olympian.
In the 120 years of the modern Olympics, Indian women had only won four medals — all of them bronze — before Sindhu wrote herself into the history books by claiming silver on Friday night.
“A young 21-year-old Indian woman showed the way to millions back home, giving them pride and belief that hard work could take them to the top of the world,” the Times of India said.
Sindhu’s father, P.V. Ramana, told reporters that his daughter “performed brilliantly” — but added he was slightly disappointed that she did not take gold.
“A bit disappointed, but we are happy with the performance. She made us proud,” Ramana was quoted as saying.
State governments, businessmen and sports associations plan to honor their new hero with gifts, including plots of land, luxury cars and cash, while advertisers are expected to court the photogenic athlete for product endorsements.
Twitter in India lit up with messages from fans, celebrities and politicians congratulating Sindhu, who won the first game of the final 21-19 before succumbing in the remaining two for second place.
“Well played India’s youngest individual Olympics medal winner. You have won our hearts with the splendid performance,” Indian cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar said on Twitter.
Sindhu declared herself “proud and thankful,” telling the ESPN Web site that she planned to celebrate with “a bit of junk food” after months of grueling training.
Her achievements bettered that of fellow Indian Saina Nehwal, who won the bronze medal in badminton at the London Games four years ago.
Sindhu and wrestler Malik are India’s only two medalists at Rio so far, with no male athletes yet to step on the podium, a disappointing haul for the country of 1.25 billion people.
Talented female athletes have long been neglected in India, with men typically receiving the lion’s share of attention and resources.
However, a gradual change in attitudes has given rise to a generation of successful women — from boxing’s Mary Kom to tennis star Sania Mirza — succeeding on the world stage.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was