Soon after badminton champion PV Sindhu won a silver medal in the Rio Olympics, a tussle erupted between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over which state she belongs to.
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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao addressing a press conference here announced Rs 5 cr cash award for Sindhu and Rs 1 cr for Gopichand.
Because Andhra Pradesh must put up a bigger and better show than neighbour Telangana in the Sindhu Tug-of-War, at least one lakh people are participating in the badminton ace’s victory rally.
The Governor said the power of mother, father, guru and the Almighty helped Sindhu to take the nation to the heights. Both of them were given a warm and grand welcome.
However, the 21-year-old shuttler has made her stand clear by saying that Gopichand is still the best coach for her.
“The country today feels proud of you”, he told Sindhu and added that sheer dedication and commitment helped her reach this position. “It was one match at a time and I am happy to win the medal”. I am thankful to my parents, they have done many sacrifices. My parents and coach encouraged me very well.
With the feat, Sindhu has also become the fifth Indian woman to clinch a medal in Olympics history after Karnam Malleswari, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sakshi Malik. We are inferior to none. We have a lot of talent better than China or Russian Federation. “It is not hard”, he observed.
“You (Gopichand) set up a world class academy in Amaravati”.
In addition, Sindhu was also offered the services a foreign coach and better facilities by the Telangana state government.
At the felicitation event at the stadium, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mohd.
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Earlier, Sindhu and Gopichand were flown down to Vijayawada in a chartered aircraft from Hyderabad. Huge hoardings have been erected along the procession route to welcome Sindhu. Chamundeswaranath is also sponsoring the gift, it is learnt. “Sindhu is an example of this”, Naidu said.
