BAI announces 10 lakh cash reward for PV Sindhu, 5 lakh for Saina Nehwal

New Delhi: The Badminton Association of India (BAI) today announced cash award of Rs 10 lakh for silver-medal winner P V Sindhu and Rs 5 lakh for bronze winner Saina Nehwal following their medal winning performances in the World Championships that concluded in Glasgow.

India's wait for gold medal at the Badminton Worlds continued after PV Sindhu lost to Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in women's single finals while Nehwal was ousted in the semis by the same opponent.

Despite the agony of this near miss, the Badminton federation would be proud of its shuttlers' performance considering it is for the first time that India has secured two medals at the prestigious event.

Congratulating the players for their exceptional performance in the tournament, BAI president Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "I would like to congratulate both the girls for their great performance. It has been a great journey and I am sure the performance of the players will only get better from here".

"I am glad that this is the first time India had a record breaking participation at the World Championships and getting two medals from a single world championship is unprecedented but our players have made it possible," Sarma told IANS.

This will be a third medal for Sindhu in the World Championships. She had won bronze twice in the 2013 and 2014 editions.

With this win, she also became the only second Indian to reach the finals of World Championship after Saina Nehwal achieved that feat in the last edition of the tournament at Jakarta.

(With PTI inputs)