Olympic Silver medallist PV Sindhu was greeted by thousands on her return in Hyderabad, but the deputy Chief Minister of Telangana made a statement which raised the eyebrows of many, saying that the Government would provide her with an “additional coach” to the Olympian for the Tokyo Olympics so that she wins a Gold medal. Experts and common folk across the country lauded the efforts of Sindhu’s coach Pullela Gopichand who was instrumental in her successful show at the Rio Olympics. She became the first Indian to win a silver medal at the Rio Olympics and also the first athlete to secure silver in Badminton. Apart from Sindhu, Sakshi Malik is the only Indian to win a medal at the Rio Games.
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As per the reports of the Times of India, Mahmood Ali, the Deputy CM said, "Sindhu is our daughter and she has made us proud. We will now provide her with an additional coach. Her current coach Gopi is good. But we want her to win Gold medals in the upcoming international competitions.”
The Indian Olympic Association had sent the largest Indian contingent at the Olympics in Rio and was struggling to get its name on the medal tally until wrestler Sakshi Malik won the Bronze medal match. The Indian medal tally was doubled when PV Sindhu was assured of a medal after defeating the Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-finals. But she lost the hard-fought Gold medal match to Carolina Marin of Spain and had to be satisfied with a second-placed podium finish.
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The 21-year old silver medallist was seen taking a victory lap on an open-top vehicle where she was received by her parents PV Ramana and P Vijaya, the deputy CM of Telangana and other ministers of the state and Andhra Pradesh. The Telangana government announced that “the golden” girl of Indian sports would be awarded a cash reward of Rs 5 crore for her display at the Games along with a 1000 square yard plot near the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Gachibowli and also a Government job if she wants to take up one.
A couple of days back, the other Olympic Gold medallist was also given handsome rewards for her triumph at the Games. the Mahindra and Mahindra company decided to give her a “Thar” for her excellence while Air India offered her two return business class tickets between any two destinations on the entire Air India network valid for a period of 1 year.
