As the curtains came down on the Rio Olympics today, PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik emerged as the only two Indian athletes to win a medal at the mega event.
Sindhu won silver in the badminton women’s singles, showing brilliant fight and resilience to reach the final, which she lost to World No 1 Carolina Marin. As for Sakshi, she came back from her quarterfinal loss to compete in the repechage and win the bronze medal bout even after being 0-5 down at one point.
Both ladies did the incredible and earned the adulation of more than a billion for saving an Olympics campaign, that at one point, seemed like it would capitulate and end medal-less. So when they won, governments and private bodies announced cash rewards of large sums – here’s what they will rake in. And they deserve every bit of it!
PV Sindhu – Rs 13.61 crore
- Rs 5 crore from the Telangana government
- Rs 3 crore from the Andhra Pradesh government
- Rs 2 crore from the Delhi government
- Rs 2 crore: broken into Rs 50 lakhs each from the Haryana and MP governments, the sports ministry and the Badminton Association of India
- Rs 75 lakh from Bharat Petrolium
- Rs 50 lakh from Dubai-based Indian businessman Mukkattu Sebastian
- Rs 30 lakh from the Indian Olympic Association
- Rs 5 lakh from the AIFF (All India Football Federation)
- Rs 1.01 lakh from Salman Khan
Sakshi Malik – Rs 5.16 crore
- Rs 2.5 crore from the Haryana government
- Rs 1 crore from the Delhi government
- Rs 60 lakh from the railway ministry
- Rs 50 lakh from Dubai-based Indian businessman Mukkattu Sebastian
- Rs 30 lakh from the Union sports ministry
- Rs 20 lakh from the Indian Olympic Association
- Rs 5 lakhs from the AIFF
- Rs 1.01 lakh from Salman Khan
* These numbers are updated till 21st August 2016
Feature image source: AFP