PV Sindhu: India celebrates badminton World Championships gold
- Published
PV Sindhu is one of India's most popular sports stars
Indian fans are celebrating after badminton player PV Sindhu won the World Championships in Switzerland.
She defeated Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 on Sunday, becoming the first Indian to win the coveted title.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan were among those who praised her historic achievement.
Sindhu won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, and another at the Asian Games two years later.
She has become a household name in India, where cricket players have traditionally been the most popular sports stars.
Sindhu dominated the match in Basel and won the first game in just 16 minutes. Twitter was quickly filled with posts celebrating her win.
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Sindhu lost two consecutive finals of the championship in 2017 and 2018, but clinched the gold on Sunday with a mix of brute power, patience and strategy.
She took the seventh spot in Forbes magazine's 2018 list of the highest-earning female athletes, with a weekly income of $163,000.