On this day: PV Sindhu wins the historic silver medal at 2016 Rio Olympics

Indian badminton’s first success at the Olympics came during the 2012 edition in London when Saina Nehwal clinched a bronze. That historic medal win laid the foundation for a stronger badminton setup in India and the immediate result of it was seen four years later during the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil. On this day in 2016, PV Sindhu bettered Saina’s bronze and secured silver in women’s singles after a hard-fought match against Spain’s Carolina Marin. While Sindhu may not have won the gold, her spirited performance in the match and the exhilarating contest captivated the entire world. On her return to her hometown Hyderabad, Sindhu and coach Pullela Gopichand were given a hero’s welcome and were feted with a parade over an open deck double-decker bus to celebrate the grand achievement. [caption id=“attachment_8727981” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  PV Sindhu (R) and her coach P. Gopichand during an open-top bus parade in 2016 after arriving in Hyderabad from the Rio Olympics. PTI[/caption] Sindhu defeated Hungary’s Laura Sarosi and Canadian Michelle Li in the group stage to reach the last 16. She would then go on to beat Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying 21-13, 21-15 in the pre-quarters and Wang Yihan in the quarter-finals. In the semi-final, Sindhu defeated second seed Nozomi Okuhara 21-19, 21-10 to become the first Indian shuttler to reach the Olympics final. The final was going to be the toughest match for Sindhu, after all, she up was against two-time World Champion and world No 1 Marin. Still, the Indian was in no mood to make it an easy run for Marin. Sindhu began the match strongly and won the first game 19-21. However, from then on, the momentum shifted in the favour of Marin. Sindhu continued to fight hard but the Spaniard clinched the match and gold medal by winning the last two games 21-12, 21-15. It was the day when Sindhu showed the world that her era was about to start. In 2019, she became the world champion by winning the BWF World Championships, becoming the first Indian to do so.