PV Sindhu, the first Indian to win BWF World Championships.

The 24-year-old from Hyderabad became the first Indian to gain the feat by beating familiar opponent Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 21-7 21-7 in one of the most lopsided finals ever.

It was third time lucky for Sindhu, who failed to Okuhara and Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain respectively in the 2017 and 2018 finals to settle for the silver twice.

“This is my answer to the people who have questioned me questions over and over. I just wanted to answer with my racket and with this win – that’s all,” Sindhu was quoted as stating by the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) official website after her crushing win over Okuhara.

Sindhu has been at the getting end of criticism for coming short in the summit clashes of major events ever since the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she had completed second best to Marin.

Two years ago, Sindhu was refused the gold by Okuhara after an epic 110-minute final that let down as one of the greatest battles in badminton history.

The gold medal was her fifth medal at the World Championships. She won a bronze respectively in the 2013 and 2014 editions.

PV Sindhu is presently the joint highest medal-winner in women’s singles in the World Championships history with former Olympic champion Zhang Ning of China, who succeeded an identical 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze in 2001 and 2007.

“Everybody was wanting this win from me. After the Rio Olympics silver medal, the expectations from me is very high. Every time I go to a tournament, everyone suspects me to win a gold,” Sindhu said.

After a year I also conceived what should I do for it and instead of thinking about others, I thought maybe I should only play for myself and give my 100 per cent and automatically I win because considering about others would put extra pressure on me.”

Now that Sindhu has attached the missing World Championships gold to her cabinet, next in order for her will be the Olympic crown in Tokyo 2020. “People are now asking ‘Sindhu, what about gold in Tokyo 2020?’,” Sindhu said.

“Olympics is not so far away but right now it is step-by-step for me. I understand the Olympic qualification is going so I hope I do well, but right now I just desire to enjoy it and don’t want to think anything else. “Badminton is my passion, love and I feel that I can win more titles.”.