The first Indian to win a Badminton World Championships gold

Question: Who has become the first Indian to win a Badminton World Championships gold?
(a) P.V. Sindhu
(b) Saina Nehwal
(c) B. S. Pranay
(d) None of the above
Answer : (a)
Related facts:

  • P.V. Sindhu on August 25, 2019 became the first Indian to win a Badminton World Championships gold by beating familiar rival Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in a lop-sided final here.
  • The Indian won 21-7 21-7 in the summit clash that lasted just 38 minutes.
  • Two years after being robbed off the gold by Okuhara in an epic 110-minute final at Glasgow that went down as one of the greatest battles in badminton history, Sindhu finally exorcised the ghost of that heart-wrenching loss with a completely dominating win over the same opponent.
  • It was Sindhu’s fifth World Championships medal — joint most for a woman singles player with former Olympics and world champion Zhang Ning of China — to go with the two successive silvers and a couple of bronze medals.
  • Sindhu has also won an Olympic silver in 2016 Rio Games, silver at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, an Asian Games silver at Jakarta and the BWF World Tour Finals in 2018.
  • Badminton Association of India announced a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for PV Sindhu and Sai Praneeth for their historic feats in the World Championships in Basel, Switzerland.
  • “BAI President @himantabiswa announces cash award of ₹20 lakh for World Champion @Pvsindhu1 and ₹5 lakh for @saiprneeth92 for their historic performance at the #bwfworldchampionship2019,” tweeted BAI.
  • While Sindhu became the first Indian to win a World Championships gold, Praneeth ended a 36-year wait after Prakash Padukone’s feat to secure a bronze for the country in men’s singles.

BWF championship:

  • The BWF World Championships (formerly known as IBF World Championships, also known as the World Badminton Championships) is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF).
  • The tournament offers the most ranking points, together with Summer Olympic Games. The winners will be crowned as the “World Champions” and awarded gold medals. However, it does not offer any prize money.

Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWF_World_Championships
https://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/pv-sindhu-becomes-first-indian-shuttler-to-win-world-championships-gold/article29253013.ece
https://www.business-standard.com/article/sports/pv-sindhu-creates-history-wins-badminton-world-championship-gold-119082500542_1.html
https://www.livemint.com/sports/news/pv-sindhu-becomes-first-indian-shuttler-to-win-world-c-ships-gold-bear-okuhara-in-final-1566738099062.html