Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu on Tuesday stressed the need for sustained financial backing for Indian shuttlers, especially young players without sponsors, amidst the controversy over funding for the national contingent’s recent European tour.
Sindhu and Lakshya Sen clinched the women’s and men’s singles titles, respectively, at the Hylo Open in Germany on Sunday, November 1. But reports later emerged that the shuttlers had to arrange their own funding for four tournaments across Finland, Denmark, France and Germany after the Sports Authority of India couldn’t release financial assistance.
In a post on X addressing the issue, Sindhu pointed to the stark disparity in prize money between tennis and badminton, despite the comparable costs of
competing on the international circuit.
But how wide is the prize money gap and why is it unfair to compare the distribution of prize money in the two sports?
The disparity in prize money between badminton and tennis is significant, especially at the highest level, although the gap varies depending on whether the comparison is between premier events or tournaments of similar categories.
For example, shuttlers play four Super 1000 tournaments across the year, namely the Malaysia Open in January, All England Championships in March, Indonesia Open in June and the China Open in July.
The total prize pool at each of these tournaments is US$1.45 million. At a BWF World Tour Super 1000 event this year, the men’s and women’s singles champions earned US$101,500 (approximately Rs 90 lakh).
Notably, a lot of lower-ranked shuttlers, who were mostly affected by SAI’s fund cut, don’t get to play Super 1000 events, which are for the top-ranked players.
A BWF World Tour Super 500 event this year offered a total prize pool of US$500,000 (approximately Rs 4.5 crore). For example, Satwik-Chirag finished runners-up at the Thailand Open in May.
The men’s doubles runners-up at a BWF World Tour Super 500 event earn US$19,000 (approximately Rs 17 lakh) as a pair. The prize money is divided equally between the two shuttlers, with each receiving US$9,500 (around Rs 8.5 lakh) before taxes.
A one-way flight from New Delhi to Helsinki in Finland costs over Rs 38000.
What is the prize money for similar level of tournaments in tennis?
For instance, the tennis calendar features four Grand Slam tournaments each year: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
The 2026 Australian Open featured a record prize pool of A$111.5 million (approximately US$74.9 million or Rs 6,700 crore), a 16% increase from the previous year.
The men’s and women’s singles champions each pocketed A$4.15 million (around Rs 25 crore), while the runners-up received A$2.15 million apiece.
At the tour level, the first ATP 1000 event of the year is the BNP Paribas Open. The 2026 tournament featured a combined prize pool of US$18.83 million (approximately Rs 1,690 crore), with US$9.42 million allocated to each of the men’s and women’s draws.
The singles champions in both categories pocketed US$1,151,380 (around Rs 10.3 crore), while the runners-up received US$612,340 (approximately Rs 5.5 crore). The winning prize is more than 11 times the amount awarded to singles champions at a BWF Super 1000 tournament.
Tennis commands a larger global television and digital audience, particularly during Grand Slams and major ATP and WTA events. Its wider reach attracts more lucrative broadcasting deals, sponsorship agreements and ticketing revenue, which makes it a higher-paid sport.
The immediate priority, however, is to resolve the issue between SAI and the Badminton Association of India. While there are no more European tournaments on the calendar this year, steps must be taken to ensure that shuttlers don’t miss out on competitions and the prize money that comes with them, due to funding delays stemming from administrative issues.
