Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu has signed a whopping four-year sports sponsorship deal in the tune of Rs 50 crore with Chinese sports brand Li Ning. The record deal comes after compatriot Kidambi Srikanth was offered a cool Rs 35 crore over a period of four years by the Chinese company last month. “Sindhu’s deal is one of the biggest in world badminton. It is close to Rs 50 crore for sponsorship and equipment,” Mahender Kapoor, director, Sunlight Sports Pvt Ltd, the multi-national exclusive partner of Li-Ning in India, told PTI.
“It will be a deal which is very close to Puma’s deal with Indian cricketer Virat Kohli in terms of yearly sponsorship. Sindhu will get Rs 40 crore as sponsorship while the rest will be for equipment, so it is close to Rs 50 crore,” Kapoor claimed. In 2017, Puma had signed Kohli for reported deal of Rs 100 crore endorsement deal for a period of eight years, which came down to 12.5 crore per year.
Sindhu, who rose to stardom after becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, was listed as the world’s seventh-highest paid sportswoman on the Forbes list last year. This is Li-Ning’s second stint with Sindhu, who was with them for two years in 2014-2015 for a sum of Rs.1.25 crore a year.
In 2016, Sindhu was back with Yonex for a Rs 3.5 crore per year contract for a period of three years. Li-Ning also roped in men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy for a deal of Rs 4 crore each for two years, while former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap has been offered a Rs 8 crore deal for two years. The Chinese sports brand had also signed a two-year deal with Indian Olympic Association last year. As part of the deal, it will provide Indian athletes and officials with competition and training apparel, leisure-wear and footwear for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
