Badminton Association of India (BAI) announces cash rewards for PV Sindhu, Sameer Verma

Badminton Association of India (BAI) has announced cash rewards for World Tour Finals winner PV Sindhu and semi-finalists Sameer Verma. Sindhu became the first Indian to win the prestigious tournament when she beat Nozomi Okuhara in the final at Guangzhou, China on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Olympic silver-medallist clinched the season-ending World Tour Finals after surpassing the Japanese 21-19, 21-17 in the summit clash. The gold was a path breaker for the World No.3, who had to be content with a second-place finish in many major tournaments in the last two years.

BAI announced a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh for Sindhu and Rs 3 lakh for Verma, who crushed out of the semi-finals after losing to world champion Kento Momota. It was his maiden appearance at the World Tour Finals, where only the top eight shuttlers from each category qualify.

“It’s a great year-ending for Indian badminton. Sindhu winning the Tours Final and defeating the best players to achieve the historic feat indicates the leap Indian badminton has taken. I congratulate both Sindhu and Sameer on behalf of entire Badminton Association of India,” BAI President, Himanta Biswa Sarma was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The title victory was Sindhu’s first ever since her Korean Open win in 2017. She has lost eight finals in between those two titles.

Among those are the World Championships, where she came second-best in consecutive years, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the Jakarta Asian Games. She was also a runner-up at the World Super Series last year.

Meanwhile, Verma won the Swiss Open, Hyderabad Open and the Syed Modi International tournament in what turned up to be a fairly successful year for the men’s third-ranked shuttler.

General Secretary of BAI, Ajay K Singhania, also congratulated Sindhu and Verma for their efforts.

Sindhu beating World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying, Akane Yamaguchi, Ratchanok Inthanon and Nozomi Okuhara is indeed commendable and Sameer reaching the semi-final and losing closely to the World No 2 Shi Yuqi on his debut says a lot about our shuttlers abilities. It is a great occasion for all of us to celebrate,” he said.