PV Sindhu's parents hail Gopichand, confident their daughter will clinch gold at Rio

Extremely proud parents of India's badminton star PV Sindhu on Thursday expressed their pleasure after their daughter assuring India of at least a silver medal in the ongoing Rio Olympics by storming into the finals of the women's singles event.

Reflecting on Sindhu's performance, father PV Ramana admitted that the first game was bit tense, but added that the shuttler performed superbly well in the second game to seal a victory.

"The first set was bit tense. Both were going really close, head-to-head. We are glad that Sindhu has clinched the last point and the first set. However, the second set was also equally good upto 10 all, from later there Sindhu has gone ahead and we all have seen the match. Thanks to all my well wishers," the father said.

Ramana also could not stop him gushing over Sindhu's coach and former badminton player Pullela Gopichand, saying that it was because of his support that her daughter had reached so far.

"We are really happy for Sindhu and Gopi. They did a really good job. Thank you very much for all your support and good wishes. We used to see how Gopi and Sindhu work hard. Sometimes, Gopi was not able to come to the court due to cold or cough, but his ambition was only one thing that we have to win and get a medal. A better medal than everybody else has done so far. And that Sindhu has done it. We wish she will also go ahead with the gold. We wish her all the best," he added.

While praising her daughter's brilliant efforts, Sindhu's mother P. Vijaya believes she would surely clinch the gold medal for India by god's grace.

"Yes everybody is proud and I am thankful to everyone. Everyday we are going to temple as God's grace should be there for everything. Sindhu played very well. We are celebrating now. We are really happy. With god's grace she won the match," she said.

Earlier, Sindhu booked her place in the finals of the women's singles event with an emphatic 21-19, 21-10 win over Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the thrilling semi-final contest.

Sindhu will also become the fifth Indian woman to clinch a medal in Olympics history after Karnam Malleswari, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sakshi Malik.

In addition to this, Sindhu will also become the first Indian woman badminton player to win a Gold or Silver medal in the prestigious quadrennial event.

Sindhu had kicked off her Rio Olympics campaign with a 22-20, 21-19 victory over Yihan Wang of China in a gruelling quarterfinal contest.

Sindhu, who has assured India of its second medal in the ongoing Olympics after bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, will now play the gold medal match against Spaniard World No. 1 Carolina Marin.