Telugu Pride P V Sindhu Recommended for Padma Bhushan

The Union Ministry of Sports has recommended the name of P V Sindhu, ace shuttler and Olympic silver medalist, for the prestigious Padma Bhushan award, on Monday.

After former Indian skipper M S Dhoni, Sindhu is the second athlete to be recommended for the country's third highest civilian award (the highest civilian awards in order are Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Sri). In March 2015, Sindhu was awarded the Padma Sri.

The 22-year-old Telugu girl has the distinction of being the first Indian shuttler to win the Korean Open Super Series. She had also clinched the 2016 China Open Super Series Premier and the India Open Super Series, and bagged a historic silver at the recent Badminton World Championships. Sindhu is also a three-time Macau Open champion, and also won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow this year. In 2014, she won four bronze medals, at the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games, the Uber Cup and the Asia Championship.

Sindhu had achieved a career-best world ranking of number two in April for a brief period. Last week, she climbed back to her number two position, following a good week at Seoul.

It may be recalled that both the Telugu states have honoured and showered sops on Sindhu following her brilliant performances.