Pandimukkala Venkata Vara Lakshmi (born 8 November 1974), better known as P. V. V. Lakshmi, is an Indian former badminton player. She is an eight-time Indian national champion in

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

and represented India in the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. She is also the wife of

Pullela Gopichand Pullela Gopichand (born 16 November 1973) is an Indian former badminton player. Currently, he is the Chief National Coach for the India national badminton team. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, becoming the second ...

. She was the bronze medalist in badminton at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in the Women's Team event.

Gopichand Badminton Academy

P. V. V. Lakshmi, was very supportive of Gopichand during the formation of

Gopichand Badminton Academy Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA) is a badminton training facility in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Founded in 2004 by the 2001 All England Open Badminton champion Pullela Gopichand, the facility trains several badminton players such ...

and even contributed to the effort of securing monetary support. Despite other donations, Gopichand could only gather US$1.75 million. It was then they decided to mortgage his family home and raise the remaining money for the already delayed project. In 2008, the facility was eventually completed at the cost of $2.5 million. Immediately after the construction, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

sent the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

team to train at this facility. The government increased the daily rate they pay per player to $20 for this special Games camp. This was a big jump from the $5 daily fee per player that the government had previously paid for other training camps. In 2008, they appealed to

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

, the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

cinema industry to become badminton's brand ambassador. They felt that by having a popular cinema icon supporting the sport will help popularize it. Despite

Saina Nehwal Saina Nehwal (; born 17 March 1990) is an Indian badminton player. A former world no. 1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in 2009, it was only in 2015 that she was ...

's success in international tournaments, Gopichand and Lakshmi found it hard to run the Academy. To run it at an optimal level, it requires $300,000 a year. As of 2010, he was making do with $100,000 to pay the training cost for 60 players and was holding off hiring more coaches.

Achievements

IBF International

Personal life

P. V. V. Lakshmi married fellow badminton player

on 5 June 2002. They have two children, a daughter named Gayatri Gopichand and a son named Vishnu. Gayathri, who is the elder of the two siblings, is an international women's doubles badminton player for India. Her son Vishnu is also training at the Gopichand Academy. After their marriage, Gopichand concentrated on the badminton academy and Lakshmi helped him.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lakshmi, P. V. V. 1974 births Living people Indian female badminton players Indian national badminton champions Olympic badminton players for India Badminton players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in badminton Commonwealth Games badminton players for India Badminton players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Sportswomen from Vijayawada, India Racket sportspeople from Vijayawada Sportswomen from Hyderabad, India 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people