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Newly-appointed Badminton Association of India president Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Friday, disbursed Rs 1.6 crore in prize money to top Indian shuttlers, including Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, for their success in international tournaments in the last few years.
Saina was awarded a cheque of Rs 25 lakhs for her title-winning performance at the Australia Super Series in 2016, besides becoming the first Indian to become the World No. 1 and reaching the finals at All England champion in 2015.
Sindhu was handed Rs 20 lakhs for winning the 2016 Malaysia Masters, 2015 Macau Open and clinching a bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Interestingly it was Parupalli Kashyap who had informed Sarma about the pending prize money.
"It was Kashyap who called me to inform that they didn't get the money for their performance at Commonwealth Games. So today we are disbursing the money. This is a small thing which we can do compared to what you guys do for the country," said Sarma, who was appointed the interim head last month following the sudden demise of former president Akhilesh Das Gupta.
"From now on, I can assure you that we will disburse the money regularly."
Kashyap received a cheque of Rs 30 lakhs for winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal at 2014 Glasgow Games and bagging the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in 2015.
RMV Gurusaidutt also received his pending cheque of Rs 5 lakhs for winning the bronze at Glasgow, while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who had clinched the silver in women's doubles category, got Rs 10 lakhs respectively.