India’s badminton star who is richer than tennis number one

PV Sindhu is a sporting star in India - earning prize money and sponsorship deals which work out as a weekly income of $US163,000 ($AUS223,506).

PV Sindhu at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil

PV Sindhu won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Source: Getty Images

She's richer than grand slam tennis winners and a racing star - but you've probably never heard of this Indian multi-millionaire athlete.

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu has broken into the top 10 of highest paid female athletes in 2018, placing seventh according to Forbes.

The 23-year-old badminton player, from Hyderabad, became a national hero when she won India's first medal of the 2016 Rio Olympics, a silver in women's singles.
Her achievements on the court not only earned her $US500,000 ($AUS685,119) in prize money but endorsements saw Sindhu bring in $US8m ($AUS10.9m) in sponsorship from the likes of Bridgestone, Gatorade, Nokia, Panasonic and Reckitt Benckiser.


That equates to a weekly income of $US163,000 ($AUS223,506).
She is richer than grand slam winners Simona Halep - the WTA world number one - and Angelique Kerber as well as the most successful female race car driver, Danica Patrick.

It's an impressive feat for someone whose name is largely unknown among sporting fans outside of India. 

Her sporting prowess runs in the family, with her father a former international volleyball player who won a bronze medal at the 1986 Asian Games.
PV Sindhu
Indian Badminton player PV Sindhu in action at Rio. Source: Getty Images
The Times of India reports she came into the sporting limelight aged 14, herself winning a bronze medal at the Sub Junior Asian Badminton Championships in Colombo in 2009.
By the age of 17, she had won the competition.

But the biggest success of her career came at the 2016 Olympics. Despite arriving as the ninth seed, she clinched wins over Chinese Taipei star Tai Tzu-ying, China' second seed Wang Yihan and sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.

She lost to Spain's world number one Carolina Marin in the final but her prominent performance earned her a new legion of fans - and sponsorship deals.
At the time Tuhin Mishra, the managing director and co-founder of Baseline Venture, the marketing company Sindhu signed to, told the Times of India: “Her soaring popularity has attracted the attention of so many companies. In the next three years, we will work to maximise her value.

"Even after achieving stupendous success, her humility and the value she brings to women power is remarkable.”

On Thursday, Sindhu begins her campaign in the women's singles at the Asian Games in Indonesia, where she is the third seed.

Sport-mad fans across India - and no doubt her sponsors - will be furiously cheering her on.


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India’s badminton star who is richer than tennis number one | SBS News