Hyderabad: A large number of people were present at the Shamshabad airport on Monday to greet P.V. Sindhu when she arrived from Brazil. From there the Olympian travelled along with her coach P. Gopichand in an open bus brought in from Mumbai by the Telangana government to Gachibowli stadium where she was felicitated at a grand event attended by ministers and sports stars from the state.
Sindhu was welcomed by school students and fans who had gathered in large numbers to greet her at various points all along the route from the airport to the stadium. In the stadium too thousands of school children from across the city cheered her. Patriotic songs on loudspeakers added a nationalistic fervour and the Oggu Dolu and Perini Shiva Thandavam performances by cultural dance troupes lent a festive spirit to the ceremony.
At the ceremony, national badminton coach P. Gopichand said that he had not expected such a reception by the Telangana government and hoped that of the many students present in the stadium, some would take Sindhu as an inspiration and take up sports as a career.
IT minister K.T. Rama Rao remarked that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi had embarked on the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ mission, it was the girls from the country who had saved India from embarrassment by winning medals at the Olympics.
The minister also said that the Telangana government would come up with a new sports policy for ensuring that many sportspersons of international standards emerged from the state.
After the ceremony Sindhu and Gopichand called on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao who presented the badminton star with a cheque of Rs 5 crore, Gopichand with a cheque of Rs 1 crore and cheques of Rs 25 lakh each to C. Kiran and K. Srikanth, who had reached the badminton quarterfinals at the Rio Olympics
The CM too spoke of a new sports policy and said that it would be ready by next year's budget to promote and harness sports talent from rural areas as well, and not just from cities.
