The entire country has been waiting for its first medal since the Olympics kicked off on the 5th of August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The wait, however, has been agonising for all of us as we’ve seen a lot of our talented athletes coming close to, but not quite touching, the proverbial finishing rope. As we get closer to the finale of Rio 2016, the expectations have become much scantier and the news, depressing.

PV Sindhu came in like a much needed sunshine on a day when the rain simply won’t cease to pour. In a thrilling encounter between two ferocious badminton players, PV Sindhu arguably caused an upset as she beat world no. 2 Wang Yihan to enter the semi-finals of the women’s singles badminton event. Doing so, she becomes India’s only other shot at a medal, alongside Kidambi Srikanth.

The tenth seed displayed a great combination of stamina and skill as she beat Yihan in straight sets to become the second Indian woman ever to reach the semifinals stage of the contest, after Saina Nehwal in London 2012. An entire nation will be watching in anticipation on Thursday, when Sindhu will take on Nozomi Okuhara from Japan in her pursuit of relinquishing a billion people’s thirsts altogether.