'I am PV Sindhu': How Twitter reacted to Indian badminton star's maiden China Open title win

Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu battled past Chinese Sun Yu to win her first BWF Superseries Premier title at the China Open badminton tournament in Fuzhou on Sunday.

The Indian seventh seed won the first game 21-11, but lost the next 17-21 before registering a 21-11 triumph in the final game to clinch the title .

The final lasted an hour and nine minutes. It was 21-year-old Sindhu’s maiden title. This win also was double World Championships bronze medallist Sindhu’s third in six games against Sun.

Sindhu looked on the offensive from the beginning and quickly raced to a 7-2 lead that became 11-6 at the mid-game interval.

Moving sharply within the court, she showed her repertoire of strokes to bag five consecutive points that made it 17-7. She then comfortably won the first game 21-11.

The victory has only helped further consolidate 2016 as a game-changing year for Sindhu, who had earlier come within inches of beating Carolina Marin in the women’s singles final at the Rio Olympics .

The Olympic silver medal propelled her to superstardom in India and she, along with wrestler Sakshi Malik and gymnast Dipa Karmakar, were accorded a rousing reception back home, and all three were presented BMW cars by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.

The latest win, with which Sindhu became the third non-Chinese player to win the title in 30 years, has helped India maintain its firm footing in the tournament, with Saina Nehwal finishing as winner and runners-up in the last two editions.

The win was celebrated by the Indians on social media, and well-known faces from various walks of life took to Twitter to express their elation over Sindhu’s victory, and to congratulate the young badminton star from Hyderabad.

Let us take a look at some of the tweets doing the rounds on Sunday evening, starting with Sindhu’s fellow sportspeople and those associated with Indian sports:

#chinaopen2016 #premiersuperseries The fav tournament for Indians! @NSaina @srikidambi and now @Pvsindhu1 ! 👏👏

— Kashyap Parupalli (@parupallik) November 20, 2016

Congratulations @Pvsindhu1 on winning the #ChinaOpen series 👏👏You keep making us proud😊 Keep it up👍

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) November 20, 2016

Congratulations @pvsindhu1 on winning #ChinaOpen! Going places and how!!

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) November 20, 2016

My 2 & half yr old daughter running around the home with her racquet shouting "I am Sindhu" #PositiveRoleModels

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) November 20, 2016

Proud moment for India again. @Pvsindhu1 wins the #Chinaopen , her first super series title. Many more to come. Many Congratulations.

— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) November 20, 2016

Another milestone for @Pvsindhu1. Higher and higher. Wish you many more

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 20, 2016

The Indian film fraternity, aka Bollywood, were not to be left behind in this regard:

T 2448 - PV Sindhu wins the China Open Badminton championship .. CONGRATULATIONS .. INDIA THE BEST !! YOU MADE US PROUD Pusarla .. YEAAH !!

— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) November 20, 2016

👏👏👏👏 You make us so proud @Pvsindhu1 Congratulations #Sindhu #chinaopen2016 #HeroesWithoutMakeup #inspirational pic.twitter.com/YasEcwDl7F

— Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) November 20, 2016

Congratulations Sindhu , and thank you , once again you have made all of us proud .

— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) November 20, 2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi might find himself tangled in a series of issues, but he did find time not only for a video message in the recently-concluded Global Citizen Festival in Mumbai, but to congratulate Sindhu as well:

Congratulations to @Pvsindhu1 for her first super series title. Well played! #ChinaOpen

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 20, 2016

There were also well known people from the corporate sector who chipped in with their inputs, like leading female entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar Shaw:

PV Sindhu Defeats Sun Yu to Win China Open, -grit n determination Congrats @PVSindhu_ https://t.co/DXrKmL5yzl

— Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (@kiranshaw) November 20, 2016

Famous sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik paid his tribute:

Congratulations @Pvsindhu1 for a fabulous win in the #ChinaOpen. You made india proud! .One of my SandArt at Puribeach . pic.twitter.com/35S6EES0Qj

— Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) November 20, 2016

With inputs from IANS