India's lone individual gold medalist Abhinav Bindra congratulated shuttler PV Sindhu for her semifinal win in Rio Olympics and expressed hope that she will soon join him in the individual gold medal club.
In a tweet after Sindhu's emphatic victory on Thursday, Bindra said," What a player !! @Pvsindhu1 I'm waiting for you to join me in the club. You have no idea how lonely it's been !!!"
Sindhu is thus standing on the cusp of history for women's sports in the country when she takes on two-time reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who beat defending champion Li Xuerui of China 21-14, 21-16.
The lanky Sindhu, assured the country of at least a silver medal after thrashing Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the women's singles badminton semi-final at the Rio Olympics here on Thursday.
Only rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra - eight years ago in the Beijing Games - has become an Olympic champion when he won the men's 10m air rifle competition.
All eyes were fixed on star shuttler Sindhu, who on Wednesday defeated World No. 2 Wang Yihan to set up her semi-final clash with world No.6 Okuhara.
With Thursday's brilliant show, Sindhu also went one better than her senior Saina Nehwal, bronze medal winner in London four years ago, and became the first ever Indian to enter the summit clash of the shuttle game in the quadrennial sports spectacle.
The Indian shuttler from Hyderabad is a two-time bronze medallist in World Championships.
