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What's the story?
Forbes India recently released its annual Celebrity 100, a list which comprises of the Top 100 Indian Celebrities and their annual earnings. The list, as expected, is brimming with actors and cricketers and the highest-earning athlete across all sports being Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, who is ranked third with earnings of Rs 100.72 crores.
However, there are a number of sportspersons from outside the world of cricket on the list, from badminton, football, tennis and golf. Three shuttlers make the cut, in the form of PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Srikanth Kidambi.
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Sindhu is the highest earning non-cricket Indian sportsperson at number 13, with a net worth of Rs 57.25 crores. On the other hand, Saina Nehwal sits in 29th place with a sum of Rs 31 crores and Srikanth is ranked 83rd, with an earnings sum of Rs 6.13 crore.
In case you didn't know...
All three players have been the flagbearers for Indian badminton and have been an essential part of the nation's incredible rise on the world stage, especially in 2017.
The heart of the matter
PV Sindhu had an amazing year that saw her clinch two Superseries titles as well as reach the finals at the World Championships and the World Superseries Finals.
Saina, who won the National Championships by defeating Sindhu in the final, has seen a dip in form this year after a long-drawn struggle with injury. Although behind Sindhu, she is still ahead of some notable athletes such as Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
Other non-cricketing sports-persons in the list include golfer Anirban Lahiri at number 63, tennis icon Sania Mirza at 98 and footballer Sunil Chettri at 100.
What's next?
The shuttlers will be in action soon in the Premier Badminton League Season 3, which kicks off on Saturday.
Author's take
It is certainly heartening to see India's badminton stars right up there with the biggest celebrities in India. Here's hoping they do even better next year and climb up the charts!
