MUMBAI: She’s got the power! PV Sindhu’s World Championship winning effort in Basel on Sunday, coming as it does with under a year to go for Tokyo 2020, has not just catapulted India’s badminton queen to serious Gold medal contender at the Olympic Games, but also means that India’s most marketable female athlete will have brands lining up.
In any case, brand Sindhu has been on the ascendant after she became the first Indian to win the season-ending BWF World Tour finals in 2018. And as Forbes magazine noted when it released its “Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2019” rankings earlier this month, it is the $5 million pulled in from endorsement deals with Li-Ning, Bridgestone, JBL, Gatorade, Panasonic and more, that have propelled the badminton ace onto the list.
It is worth noting that aside from Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, only four female athletes WORLDWIDE – Angelique Kerber ($6.5m), Maria Sharapova ($6m), Alex Morgan ($5.5m), and Sloane Stephens ($5.5m) – currrently earn more than Sindhu in terms of endorsement deals.
Queried about this Tuhin Mishra, managing director & co-founder, Baseline Ventures, which represents Sindhu in all her commercial dealings, told SportzPower that active negotiations were in play for new endorsement deals with brands in four categories – automobiles, watches, tech and cosmetics.
As for the the terms, Mishra said the minimum tenure would have to be for two years and minimum payout Rs 30 million per annum to get Sindhu on board.
FOOTNOTE: The Badminton Association of India has announced a cash reward of Rs 2 million for Sindhu following her historic win at the World Championships in Basel on Sunday where she etched her name in the record books by becoming the first Indian to win a Gold medal. Expect this to be just the first of many more such announcements in the coming days.
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