Abhinav Bindra, India’s only individual Olympic gold medallist, sent a heartfelt message to PV Sindhu, India’s only second double Olympic medalist after the badminton star made history on Sunday.
Abhinav Bindra, the Beijing Olympic gold medalist in the 10m Air Rifle, wrote Sindhu a letter expressing his admiration for her accomplishments as the first Indian woman to finish on the Olympic podium twice.
Sindhu won bronze in badminton’s women’s singles event at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, defeating China’s He Bingjiao in a routine match. Sindhu overcame her disappointment after losing in the semi-finals to World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying with a clinical performance against Bingjiao, who is rated higher.
“Very few athletes from our nation have been lucky enough to achieve what you have achieved,” Bindra wrote in his letter to Sindhu.
“In fact, most of the sporting careers all over the world end without an Olympic medal, even after years and years spent obsessing over winning the shiny little round object. This alone shows how rare it is to accomplish such a feat, and just how insane one has to be to dream of it. You are already a Double Olympic Medalist!”
He went on to say that accomplishments like this inspire everyone to keep dreaming of the impossible and that Sindhu is “a beautiful example to the emerging generation of athletes” since she is “an embodiment of the virtues of practice and perseverance.”
Congratulations @Pvsindhu1 ! You make us super proud !!! pic.twitter.com/55lMOCQeMc
— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) August 1, 2021
PV Sindhu received a barrage of congratulations, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing her as “one of our most brilliant Olympians” and President Ram Nath Kovind praising her for “creating a new criterion of consistency, dedication, and excellence.”
Virender Sehwag and Ishant Sharma were among the athletes who flocked to Twitter to congratulate the ace badminton player on her medal-winning performance in Tokyo.
