Sporting fraternity hails PV Sindhu on her historic Olympic feat

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Aug.19 (ANI): The sporting fraternity has come in unison to congratulate India's badminton star PV Sindhu, who scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman athlete to hand her country an Olympic silver medal here in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Friday. Indian boxing sensation Vijender Singh took to micro-blogging website Twitter to congratulate the 21-year-old shuttler for creating history and winnings hearts of billion people. "PV Sindhu create a history really feel proud Wat a match.Apart from the #Silver #PVSindhu ,you have won hearts of a billion ppl and developed interest in badminton amongst millions.Mera Naman aapko," he tweeted. Describing Sindhu as a `fighter`, two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar said that although he wanted her to be in the gold club with Abhinav Bindra, he welcomes her in the silver club along with him. "What a fighter @Pvsindhu1. You are the first Indian Woman to win an @Olympics silver. #hero. I wanted you to be in #Gold club with @Abhinav_Bindra but you are welcome to our #Silver club with @Ra_THORe @vijay_19sh #JeetoRio," Sushil said in a series of tweet. While hailing Sindhu's fighting spirit, Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan said, "That determination, fighting hard till the very last point. #Champion stuff. Congratulations #PVSindhu and coach P. Gopichand." "Well done #PVSindhu . its very little that seperates a winner & a finalist. Proud of you. Enjoy the silver . well deserved," Indian chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand tweeted. Appreciating Sindhu for her brilliant performance, hockey player Sunil Chetri said he could not remember the last time an Indian athlete brought the nation together like the way the woman shuttler did. "Gold wud hv been gr8but even in it they do mixing,out of 500gm Gold medal,494gm is silver,but u wud know d price of dat 6 gm best,#PVSindhu," former opener Virender Sehwag wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, 2008 Beijing gold medallist Abhinav Bindra tweeted, "I think I'm more heartbroken today than I was a week ago ! Well played @Pvsindhu1 you are an inspiration to me !" After producing a spirited fight-back to clinch the first game, the 21-year-old lanky shuttler from Hyderabad failed to capitalize on it and went on to suffer a 19-21, 21-12, 21-15 defeat against world number one Carolina Marin in the nerve -wracking finals of the women's singles event that lasted one hour and 20 minutes. Sindhu's silver medal comes after Sakshi Malik won the Bronze in 48-kg freestyle wrestling event. Earlier, Sindhu produced a perfect blend of power and aggression as she registered a 21-19, 21-10 win over reigning All England singles champion Nozomi Okohura of Japan to book her place in the finals of the prestigious quadrennial event and assure India of its second medal at the ongoing Rio Olympics and in the games' history. Sindhu has now become the second Indian player in badminton to win an Olympic medal after Saina Nehwal, who had clinched bronze in London four years ago. With the feat, Sindhu has also become the fifth Indian woman to clinch a medal in Olympics history after Karnam Malleswari, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sakshi Malik. (ANI)