Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, a shuttler from India, will be adding to the medal count of the country. “That can only happen if we continue to give them support”, Tendulkar said at the sidelines of Fifth Healthcare Access Summit – “ACT on NCDs” – at a city hotel here. She first defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara to enter the final and battled against Spain’s Carolina Marin, losing to her 21-19, 12-21 and 15-21 at the badminton final on the D-day and bagged the silver.
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The 23-year-old wrestler from Mokhra village near Rohtak, Sakshi Malik, who recently won India’s first medal at the ongoing Rio Olympics, wanted to become a sportsperson to fly in an aeroplane. She never regretted her decision till date. She was a simple girl who worked hard every day of her life.
The railway ministry had announced cash awards of Rs 1 cr, Rs 75 lakh and Rs 50 lakh to gold, silver and bronze medal winners and a further Rs 10 lakh for qualification. “I want her to play at the Tokyo Olympics and win gold there”, he said.
Five countries won their first gold medal – Kosovo (Majlinda Kelmendi, judo); Fiji (men’s Rugby sevens); Singapore (Joseph Schooling, 100m butterfly); Puerto Rico (Monica Puig, tennis singles) and Vietnam (Xuan Vinh; 10m air pistol). She played for the Bangalore-based team Banga Beats in the inaugural edition of the Indian Badminton League (IBL) in 2013.
“If someone wins a medal he or she, quite rightly, becomes the nation’s pride instantly”.
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Although the 23-year-old debutant from Tripura missed a bronze medal by a whisker, she managed to performed Tsukahara (14.866) in her first attempt before successfully executing risky Produnova vault (15.266) in her second attempt in the women’s individual vault final at the Rio Olympics.
