After being conferred with Padma Bhushan — India’s third-highest civil honour, country’s badminton star PV Sindhu said that these kinds of awards motivate the players to achieve a lot more.
“These kinds of awards give us a lot of encouragement to do a lot more,” Sindhu told ANI in Lucknow.
“I felt very happy. I am very thankful to the Ministry, the Badminton Association of India, the Sports Authority of India and also the government of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana because they really have been very supportive. I think it is a very good encouragement to sports. I am very thankful,” she added.
Sindhu, who made her debut at the international stage in 2009, became the only Indian woman to win an Olympic silver when she reached the final of the women’s singles event at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In August last year, the 24-year-old became the first Indian to win gold at the badminton World Championships.
The 24-year-old has also won two silver and two bronze medals at the World’s in the past, thus making her only the second woman after Chinese two-time Olympic gold medallist Zhang Ning to win five medals in the competition.
(With inputs from IANS)