Indian badminton legend Prakash Padukone heaped lavish praise on PV Sindhu on Monday, hailing her performance at the World Badminton Championships 2017 as the 'best ever performance by an Indian sportsperson (Male/Female) in the history of Indian Sports'.
"I would personally consider this as the best ever performance by an Indian sportsperson (Male/Female) in the history of Indian Sports even though Sindhu finished runner-up in the event," said Padukone.
Sindhu, the Rio Olympic silver-medallist gave it her all in the breathtaking final of the women's singles event, but she had to eventually settle for the silver at the World Championship. "Sindhu showed tremendous amount of grit, determination, fighting qualities, never say die attitude and stamina in a nail biting encounter. Both players displayed very high quality of Badminton and never gave up till the end," added Padukone.
The 62-year-old former World No.1 also reckons it's only a matter of time before Sindhu gets the gold medal. "All aspiring youngsters would do well to emulate the qualities displayed by these two players. Hats off to Sindhu. You have done Indian Badminton proud. Keep up the good work until you get the Gold. It is only a matter of time before you achieve your goal," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind also heaped praise on Sindhu after she made the country proud by clinching the silver medal at the World Badminton Championships in Glosgow, Scotland.
Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Modi wrote, "Well played @Pvsindhu1! We are proud of your game at the @2017BWC finals. Congratulations."
President Kovind, on the other hand, lauded both Sindhu as well as bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal for making the country proud. "Well done Sindhu & Saina. India is very proud of you & your medals. Congrats to Japan's Okuhara for an incredible victory #PresidentKovind," he tweeted.
In a close summit showdown that lasted for one hour and 50 minute, the longest match of the tournament so far, Sindhu lost the title 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan on Sunday. It was the third medal for Sindhu in the World Championships. She had won bronze twice in the 2013 and 2014 editions.
Sindhu also became the only second Indian to reach the finals of World Championship after Saina Nehwal achieved that feat in the last edition of the tournament at Jakarta. The Hyderabadi shuttler had assured India of a silver medal with a straight games win over Chen Yufei of China in the semi-final clash.
Sindhu, who has been in a rampaging form ever since her Rio Olympics final defeat to Spain's Carolina Marin, had earlier clinched her maiden Super Series Premier title at China Open last year before winning the India Super Series in April. She also won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January.
Nehwal, on the other hand, had to settle with the Bronze in Glasgow after going down 21-12, 17-21, 10-21 to Okuhara in the semi-final match of the tournament.
(Inputs from ANI)
