The Badminton Association of India (BAI) have announced cash rewards of close to Rs 1.5 crore for the medallists at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships on Tuesday. India's badminton contingent returned with their best showing ever from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, with three golds, one silver, and two bronze medals in their kitty.
The Indian men’s shuttlers also won three medals at the World Championships in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
"Our Badminton players have been consistently winning laurels for the country and this cash award is a small effort to acknowledge their amazing achievements over the last two years,” said BAI president Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma while announcing the prize money.
The 10-member mixed team, who won the silver medal in Birmingham, will get a total of Rs 30 lakh, or Rs 3 lakh each, for their efforts, while the eight members of the support staff will get Rs 1.5 lakh each.
Commonwealth Games men’s and women’s singles champions Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu will take home Rs. 20 lakh each while the men’s Doubles combination of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be rewarded with Rs. 25 lakh (12.5 lakh each) for their historic gold at the Birmingham Games.
In addition to these gold medallists, the young women’s doubles combination of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will take home Rs 7.5 lakh for their maiden bronze medal-winning efforts.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth will also get Rs 5 lakh for his men’s singles bronze in Birmingham along with Rs 10 lakh for his silver medal-winning effort at the 2021 BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain.
Sen would add Rs 5 lakh to his kitty for bagging the men’s singles bronze in 2021 while Shetty and Satwik will get another Rs 7.5 lakh for becoming the first Indian men’s doubles pair to clinch a World Championships bronze in Tokyo last month.
"BAI plans to continue to encourage the players for their super series performances too," the press release said.
