 "Sindhu among top-earning female athletes in 2024: How much did shuttler make from endorsements? What is her net worth?")
US-based magazine Forbes published its list of the world’s highest-paid female athletes for the year 2024. And the only Indian making the list was badminton star PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist. Sindhu, who was crowned world champion in 2019 besides winning Olympic silver and bronze in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 respectively, was ranked 17th on the list with an earning of US$7.1 million, which is approximately Rs 60 crore.
That figure includes Rs 85 lakh ($0.1 million) earned from her exploits on the court as income and Rs 59 crore ($7 million) from endorsements. Non-cricket Indian athletes aren’t known to earn big either through their central contract with their national federation or from participating in tournaments – unless it’s someone like chess sensation D Gukesh becoming a millionaire by winning the World Championship.
In Sindhu’s case, the 29-year-old has 4 million followers on social networking platform Instagram and endorses brands such as Spinny, Maybelline, Bank of Baroda, Asian Paints, and Bridgestone India — with her fees ranging from Rs 1.2 crore to Rs 2.25 crore.
Also Read | Sindhu returns to top of podium after two years by winning Syed Modi International
She had also signed an endorsement deal with Chinese sports goods manufacturer Li Ning worth Rs 50 crore in 2019, the year in which she had become the first Indian to win gold at the Badminton World Championships in Basel, Switzerland.
Sindhu tied the knot with Hyderabad-based Executive Director of data mining company Venkata Datta Sai on 22 December.
Who is the highest earning female athlete in 2024?
American tennis player Coco Gauff, who had won the US Open in 2023, was named the highest earning female athlete for the year 2024 with a total income of $34.4 million – earning $9.4 million from playing in various tournaments and $25 million from endorsements.
Gauff isn’t the only tennis player in the list though, with the likes of Polish star and four-time French open winner Iga Swiatek as well as world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Qinwen Zheng of Belarus and China respectively.
While 11 women earned more than $10 million each for the first time ever, the total income of the top-20 female athletes – amounting to $258 million — was less than 12 per cent of the $2.23 billion earned by the top-20 male athletes. The gap between male and female athletes is a lot more pronounced when it comes to salaries and prize money.
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