P.V. Sindhu Biography Profile,Records and Life History-Indian professional badminton player.

The  News Minute ran a check and the results were verified by Google statistics. The interest in Sindhu’s caste has peaked indeed over the last week or so, since her historic win in Rio. The users didn’t spare Sindhu’s coach Pullela Gopichand either, with ‘pullela gopichand caste’ closely following on the heels of the previous inquiry. A Times of India report pointed out that most of these searches were made from Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh), Secundarabad (Telangana), Vishakapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Hyderabad (Telangana).

The obvious conclusion from these findings is that a vast number of Indians still worry about caste and consider it relevant in this day and age. As PV Sindhu prepared to take on world number one Carolina Marin in the gold medal match of women’s Badminton singles at Rio Olympics, Indians poured in wishes for her in thousands. There was, however, a completely different concern that plagued the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana which likely prompted a Google search for Sindhu’s caste. Sindhu was not the only target of this bias. The phrase ‘Sakshi Malik caste’ was also a highly searched term on the day of Malik’s victory and is still an active search term, with the maximum searches from Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Related queries are, Google tells , ‘pv sindhu caste’, ‘malik caste,’ ‘pusarala caste’ and so on.

The spike of these search terms make the question of caste extremely relevant, quite opposite to what one would like to believe. The manifestations of our biases can be seen on a daily basis when we give the sweeper an exact change for his salary so we don’t have to take the money they are carrying or when we don’t want to use an elevator when a housemaid is travelling in it. It doesn’t quite come as a surprise then that achievements come only after caste is established, because superiority of one’s caste is over and above skill, years of hard-work and years of dedication. For both Sindhu and Sakshi, the laurels that they brought to the country by achieving first-time feats at a very young age at an international platform are sub-par until their caste identities are established. For both Sindhu and Malik, their struggles are evident in the fantastic games they play. To reduce them to their caste identities is debilitating their life’s resolve, their perseverance and everything that they put in to reach that stage which got them accolades from the country and the world.

Biography of P. V. Sindhu:

P. V. Sindhu or Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is an ace shuttler and silver medalist at 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. This young badminton player from Andhra Pradesh was born to volleyball players P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya in the year 1995. Her father was honoured with Arjuna Award for having displayed excellence in his sport. One of the youngest and talented badminton players of the contemporary times, Sindhu has featured in top 10 in the world badminton rankings for the most part of 2014. Pusarla Venkata Sindhu was born in a Telugu family to P. V. Ramana and P. Vijaya – both former volleyball players. In 2000, Ramana was awarded Arjuna Award for his sport.  Though her parents played professional volleyball, Sindhu chose badminton over it because she drew inspiration from the success of Pullela Gopichand, the 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion.


Childhood and early training:
She eventually started playing badminton from the age of eight. after she drew inspiration from Pullela Gopichand’s victory in All England Open Badminton Championship in 2001. That’s the reason why she chose badminton over volleyball although her parents were professional volleyball players. Her initial apprenticeship started with Mehboob Ali at the badminton courts of Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad. Later, she joined Pullela Gopichand’s badminton academy to further enhance her sporting skills.


Sindhu’s Performance in Domestic Arena:
1. Sindhu’s first major recognition came in the form of the 5th Servo All India ranking championship for under-10 category.
2. She also won the singles title at the Ambuja Cement All India ranking.
3. In the under-13 category, Sindhu won doubles titles at the IOC All India Ranking, Krishna Khaitan All India Tournament, the Sub-Junior Nationals and the All India Ranking in Pune.
4. At the 51st National School Games in India, Sindhu won the gold medal in under-14 category.