On Sunday, 25 August, PV Sindhu became the first Indian shuttler to be crowned World Champion after she defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in the final of the BWF World Championships in Basel, Switzerland.
After Sindhu’s historic achievement, social media was flooded with congratulatory messages, ranging from that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to big names from Bollywood and the sports fraternity.
Once such post on Twitter was of the retired Indian track and field athlete PT Usha, who along with a message, shared a cute picture of young PV Sindhu. In the picture, a young Sindhu can be seen sitting on PT Usha’s lap.
PT Usha wrote, “The passion and dedication for the sport will always be rewarded when hard work comes into play. @Pvsindhu1 success will inspire generations to come! Hefty congratulations on winning the Gold at #BWFWorldChampionships2019.”
Speaking to Times of India, PT Usha mentioned that the picture was taken long time ago but it was only in 2016, after the Rio Olympics, that she got hold of it.
“After the 2016 Olympics, her dad sent me this photo asking, ‘Do you remember who this is?’ And of course I remembered. From that day, I kept the cute photo saved as a lovely memory of meeting Sindhu,” said PT Usha.
Just like Sindhu, PT Usha has been a sporting legend for India in her own right. Usha's best moment came at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. After poor performances in the 100m and the 200m at the Moscow World Championships, she decided to concentrate on the 400m hurdles. After qualifying for the finals in the Olympics, she came fourth with a timing of 55.42 seconds, falling behind the eventual bronze medalist by 1/100th of a second.
Apart from this, PT Usha had a near clean sweep in the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea. Not only did she win Gold in the 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, and the 4x400m relay, she also registered new record at the Asian Games in all the four events. She also won silver in the 100m.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)