PV Sindhu’s awards: Badminton champion has won India's biggest honours
The former badminton world champion was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2021, following her second medal win at the Olympics.
Badminton
PV Sindhu has won titles at every level in the last decade and scripted history on numerous occasions.
The Indian badminton ace has five world championships medals, including a gold, and also has two Olympic medals. These are feats no Indian has ever achieved.
PV Sindhu’s achievements on the court have won her several awards, including some of the highest national honours of India.
The Hyderabad-born Sindhu was most recently honoured with the Padma Bhushan – India’s third-highest civilian award – in 2021 for her bronze medal-winning campaign at Tokyo 2020. She became the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals.
“It is a proud moment. I am thankful to the Government of India,” PV Sindhu said. “These awards give us a lot of encouragement, support and motivation.”
The awards and accolades have come to PV Sindhu ever since she broke through the ranks in early 2010s.
After becoming the first Indian woman to win a world championship medal in 2013, PV Sindhu was conferred with the Arjuna Award, which is the second-highest sporting honour of India.
Still a teenager then, PV Sindhu continued her impressive run at the worlds and even stood on the podium at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
The Indian ace also broke into the top 10 of the badminton world rankings and in 2015, received the Padma Shri award, the country’s fourth-highest civilian honour.
PV Sindhu’s biggest achievement at that time came in 2016 when she won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics, which was her debut appearance at the Summer Games. She became the first Indian woman to win a silver at the Olympics.
Following her performance at the Olympics, India’s highest sporting honour, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna was awarded PV Sindhu.
The Hyderabad shuttler continued shining at the highest level and after winning successive world silvers in 2017 and 2018, PV Sindhu became the world champion in 2019.
PV Sindhu’s awards list further grew after the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) named her the Sportswoman of the Year in 2019.