Sindhu awaits ice cream with Modi after second Olympic medal

PV Sindhu

NEW DELHI: Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu awaits a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after she became the country's first woman to win two individual Olympic medals.

"GOAT - Grittiest Of All Time", the Indian Express front page read on Monday (Aug 2), riffing off Greatest Of All Time after Sindhu beat China's He Bingjiao in Tokyo and swooped a bronze medal. The world champion's victory on Sunday came five years after she finished second at the Rio Games.

Sindhu's father PV Ramana, a former volleyball player, said the badminton superstar will meet the prime minister on her return Tuesday.

"He had said, 'you go, we will have ice cream when you come back' so she will now definitely go and have ice cream with the prime minister," Ramana was quoted as saying by Indian media.

In an online interaction with Sindhu ahead of the competition, Modi had said he would invite her for dessert after the badminton champion admitted she loves ice cream but stays away from it to stay fit.

"We are all elated by the stellar performance by Sindhu," Modi wrote on his official Twitter account after her win.

"She is India's pride and one of our most outstanding Olympians," he added.

Sindhu missed out on the final after losing to Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying. But she outclassed He 21-13, 21-15 to become the toast of Indian sports alongside weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu who won a silver on the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu's Olympic success emulates fellow Indian national and men's wrestler Sushil Kumar who won bronze in 2008 and then silver at the 2012 London Games.

"You have made the whole nation very very proud," cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar wrote on Twitter.