Kidambi Srikanth becomes highest-earning men's shuttler in 2017, PV Sindhu 11th overall

India’s Srikanth Kidambi has emerged as the highest-earning male player in the world this year, according to Badzine.net. Meanwhile, the country’s ace women’s singles shuttler P V Sindhu is ranked 11th in world, based on the prize money she has amassed in this year in a list topped by the current World no. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.

Despite a stuttering start to 2017 due to an injury sustained late last year, Srikanth soon fell into a solid stride and finished runners-up at the Singapore Super Series, losing to compatriot B Sai Praneeth. He followed it up with Super Series title wins in Indonesia, Australia, Denmark and France, thereby joining Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and Chen Long as only the fourth player ever to have bagged as many Super Series titles in a single year.

This amazing run of form, coupled with consistent fitness has seen Srikanth collect USD 236,423 in the calendar year, ahead of some of the top shuttlers from around the world, like Viktor Axelsen (USD 165,550) and Lee Chong Wei (USD 165,188), who round off the Top 10 highest earning shuttlers’ list and also sees him eclipse the winnings of the two dominant Chinese forces – Chen Long (USD 135,153) and veteran Lin Dan (USD 86,495), and sees him ranked 4th in the world currently.

PV Sindhu also had a strong year that comes to a close with her currently ranked 3rd in the world and with total prize winnings of USD 159,275. She picked up wins at the Syed Modi International Championships held in India and also bagged the Super Series titles at the Indian and Korean Open Championships. Additionally, she claimed silver medals at the World Championships this year and lost out to top-earner Yamaguchi at the Super Series finals, while also finishing second at the Hong Kong Super Series event. Sindhu is the 5th highest earning female player, ahead of key opponents like Nozomi Okuhara (USD 97,913) and Carolina Marin (USD 93,673).