Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu won Badminton World Federation (BWF) Most Improved Player of the Year award at the Players’ Reception and Gala Dinner in Dubai . Sindhu, who lost to Carolina Marin in the finals of the womens’ singles in the summer games, won her first Superseries title in China in November.

• The shuttler also reached the final of Hong Kong open and qualified for her maiden Superseries Finals, scheduled to be played in Dubai. Sindhu is drawn in Group B along with Olympic gold medallist Marin.
• Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei won the Male Player of the Year award.
• Japan’s Misaki Matsutomo/Ayaka Takahashi won the Female Player of the Year award.

About PV Sindhu:

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (born 5 July 1995) is an Indian professional badminton player. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal. She is one of the two Indian badminton players to ever win an Olympic medal – other being Saina Nehwal.

• Sindhu came to international attention when she broke into the top 20 of the BWF World Ranking in September 2012 at the age of 17. In 2013, she became the first ever Indian women’s singles player to win a medal at the Badminton World Championships.
• In March 2015, she became the youngest recipient of India’s fourth highest civilian honor, the Padma Shri. Her silver medal win in the women’s singles event of the 2016 Summer Olympics made her the first Indian shuttler to reach the final of an Olympics badminton event and the youngest Indian to make a podium finish in an individual event at the Olympics.