The moment of reckoning had finally arrived on Sunday when world champion P.V. Sindhu settled for a bronze in women’s singles in Tokyo Olympics, signalling an end to a 24-hour agonising wait for her family members back home here after the disappointing loss in the semifinal on Saturday.
“This is the result of a lot of sacrifices and great efforts. We are proud of our daughter who faced many challenges on way to the Olympics bronze,” PV Ramana, the proud father of Sindhu, said.
Tears rolled down as the proud parents Ramana and P. Vijaya struggled to control the emotions once Sindhu clinched her second consecutive Olympics medal (she won silver in 2016 Rio Games).
ADVERTISEMENT
Significantly, Sindhu, when Pradeep Raju, one of her mentors and coach at Suchitra Academy spoke to her this morning, assured that she would not return to the city without a medal.
“She was very confident and determined to brush aside the loss to Tai Tzu-Ying in the semifinal on Saturday. And, this attitude was visible in Sunday’s bronze medal match,” Pradeep revealed in a chat with The Hindu .
Not surprisingly, there were celebrations at Sindhu’s residence in Jubilee Hills with media and well-wishers descending there.
ADVERTISEMENT
A visibly elated Ramana gave credit to the coach Park Tae Sang, Suchitra Academy for their “great support”, especially the sparring partners from there, the Union Sports Ministry, Sports Authority of India, Government of Telangana and the Badminton Association of India for all the efforts which led to Sindhu clinching the Olympics medal.
“After the semifinal loss, we were disappointed but were just hoping she would clinch the bronze. It is never easy to win any medal at that level. We are proud of her achievement as winning medals in consecutive Olympics is no joke,” Ramana said.
“Celebrations will continue and how they will be, you will come to know soon,” he added.