PV Sindhu becomes first Indian shuttler to win BWF World Championships gold

Sindhu on Sunday became the first Indian to win the BWF World Championships, crushing Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in just 36 minutes in a one-sided final.

Sindhu’s gold is the second medal that India won at theWorlds this year with Sai Praneeth winning a bronze in men’s singles category.The last time Sindhu and Okuhara met in a World Championships final was in 2017. In a pulsating encounter that lasted nearlytwo hours and involved a 73-shot rally, Okuhara emerged victorious in the end.Sindhu again reached the final in 2018, only to go down to Carolina Marín ofSpain. However, she finally broke the jinx this time, brushing aside heropponent with a dominant show from start to finish.

In stark contrast to world No. Sindhu, the Japanese worldNo. 4 on Sunday looked completely at sea against the Indian star’s relentless attacks.

Although Okuhara won the first point of the first game,Sindhu won eight straight points after that to race to a 8-1 lead. Okuhara managed just one more point before the interval with Sindhu leading 11-2.

The mauling continued for much of the second period of the opener, which ended in just 16 minutes. Okuhara got a few consecutive points towards the end to extend her score to 7 but Sindhu sealed the issue on herfirst game point.

In the second game, Okuhara briefly kept pace until the score was 3-2 in Sindhu’s favour after which the Indian took six consecutive points to race to a 9-2 lead. Okuhara won two more points but Sindhu kept herfoot on the pedal and went into the interval with a 11-4 lead.

Both players had not won a title this year. While Okuhara reached the final after a hard fought 17-21, 21-18, 21-15 win againstThailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, Sindhu swatted aside China’s Chen Yu Fei 21-7,21-14 in her semifinal clash.

This is Sindhu’s fifth medal at the World Championships,which is the joint highest in women’s singles in the history of the tournamentalong with Xhang Ning of China, a two-time Olympic gold medallist. Apart fromthe two silvers Sindhu won in the last two editions, she had also won the bronze in 2013 and 2014.