PV Sindhu: India's Badminton Medal Hopes At The 2024 Summer Olympic Games

The Paris 2024 Olympics will be the largest event ever held in France. The games will take place from July 26 to August 11, 2024, and will position Paris at the centre of the global sporting community. Billions of people from all over the world are expected to watch the highly-anticipated event. For the first time in Olympic history, the Opening Ceremony on July 26 will not be held in a stadium. The national delegations will parade on boats along the Seine. With 65 days left before the start of the much-awaited 2024 Paris Olympics, there couldn't be a better day to know about India's Badminton team. Looking at the India Olympic schedule, the Indian contingent, especially PV Sindhu, will be eyeing to improve their medals tally to set up new world records in the 2024 Olympics. In this blog, we take a look at India's Badminton Medal Hopes at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

PV Sindhu: India's Badminton Medal Hopes In Summer Olympic Games 2024

1. PV Sindhu is the only Indian badminton player to win two Olympic medals

PV Sindhu will lead a seven-member Indian badminton team at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Sindhu will be the only shuttler in the women’s singles category, finishing 12th in the Race to Paris Rankings. The 28-year-old's journey to the Olympics was challenging, marked by injuries and a lack of form. However, her consistency over the last year as a former world champion kept her in contention for the Olympic spot. PV Sindhu is only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games. Her Olympic journey started in Rio 2016 when she endured a tough knockout round. In the Round of 16, the 21-year-old PV Sindhu achieved her best victory by defeating Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei with scores of 21-13 and 21-15. 

The Indian capitalized on Nozomi Okuhara’s mistakes in the semi-finals to win 21-19, 21-10, making her the first woman from her country to qualify for the finals. She faced the World No. 1 and two-time world champion, Carolina Marin, in the final, but Sindhu failed to defeat her. PV Sindhu's silver medal was an immense achievement for India. Sindhu lived up to all the expectations at the Tokyo Olympics as well. On her way to the historic bronze, PV Sindhu did not drop a single game before the semi-finals. If she wins a medal in the Paris Olympics 2024, PV Sindhu will become India's most successful Olympian of all time and will be a top headline in the Olympics news. She has battled a lot of injury issues during the recent few months, but she is hopeful to bring up her best game forward in the upcoming games.

2. PV Sindhu's Journey to the Summer Olympic Games 2024

PV Sindhu began her Olympic qualification journey disappointingly, as she failed to secure a single win in the Sudirman Cup. However, the silver medalist from the Rio Olympics bounced back with a strong performance, reaching the semi-finals in the Malaysian Masters. In 2023, she experienced a mixed journey, facing seven first-round exits. Nonetheless, her semi-final finishes in tournaments like the Canada Open and the Denmark Open ensured that she continued to accumulate valuable points, allowing her to climb up in the Race to Paris Rankings. In October, a knee injury forced her to end her season early at the French Open. Despite these challenges, she made a strong comeback in 2024 and led the team to gold at the Badminton Asia Team Championships. This victory secured her spot in the Olympics, where she will be the sole competitor in women’s singles, the only event in which India has previously won Olympic medals.

3. Badminton duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

The star Indian men's badminton duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have regained their top spot in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings after a remarkable victory at the Thailand Open Super 500 in Bangkok last week. The Indian pair first rose to the pinnacle of the world rankings on October 10, 2023, after their groundbreaking gold medal win at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. However, their reign was short-lived as Liang and Wang reclaimed the top spot three weeks later.

4. Athletes competing in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games

A mind-boggling total of 10,500 athletes from 206 NOCs and a Refugee Olympic Team will compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. With 65 days left before the start of the much-awaited 2024 Paris Olympics, there couldn't be a better day to look at the Indian contingent. Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra will be one of the torch bearers of the Paris Olympics 2024. The closing ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 11 at the Stade de France, which is the national stadium of the country. The ceremony will feature stunning performances by celebrities from the host country. However, the details of the performances will not be disclosed until the days leading up to the event.