Chinese sportswear giant Li-Ning have signed a 4-year sponsorship deal with Indian badminton star, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, the number 6 ranked female singles badminton player in the world. The deal is reported to be close to USD7m, where USD5.6m will be sponsorship, and the remainder in equipment. Various media have reported on this sponsorship news. 

This is the second large-scale sponsorship deal with an Indian badminton athlete that Li-Ning have signed at the beginning of 2019. In January, Li Ning signed a deal with Kidambi Srikanth, the world No. 7 men’s singles player. The sponsorship fee for the deal is reported to be around USD5m. 

PV Sindhu previously signed a two-year deal with Li-Ning in 2014. However she switched to the Japanese badminton equipment brand Yonex on a three-year deal. Now that the Yonex deal is over, she has switched back to Li-Ning again. 

She is one of the richest sports athletes in the world, according to the Forbes list of highest-paid female athletes in 2018 ranking 7th among other global female athletes such as Serena Williams. 

With these two Indian athlete endorsements, it is quite obvious that Li-Ning are trying to achieve a bigger influence in the Indian sports market. 

Reference: Badminton Planet 

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick