Sindhu speaks up after SAI funding gap leaves India’s shuttlers paying their own way across Europe

P.V. Sindhu came back from Europe with a title and a second final, yet the Hyderabad shuttler is now talking about money rather than medals. The row began when the Sports Authority of India (SAI) chose not to pay for the Indian team’s four-tournament European swing. On Tuesday, 3 November, the two-time Olympic medallist used a long post on X to ask who would stand behind young players with no sponsors.

The four back-to-back events were held in Finland, Denmark, France and Germany, starting with the Arctic Open in Vantaa on 6 October. Word that no money was coming reached the players only a few days earlier. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) arranged rooms in Finland; for the other three stops, flights, meals and hotels were left to the players.

Sindhu said the news left her “a bit shocked” and that she had never been in such a position before. She played anyway, paying part of the bill herself with help from Olympic Gold Quest, the foundation that backs her. She lost the French Open final to An Se-young on 25 October, then won the Hylo Open in Saarbrücken on Sunday, 1 November, the same day Lakshya Sen took the men’s crown.

Shuttlers without coaches

Others had it harder. In Paris, Ashmita Chaliha stunned Akane Yamaguchi, ranked third in the world, with fellow player Isharani Baruah sitting in as her coach, while Tanvi Sharma had nobody in her corner during a match in Denmark. All 26 Indians entered in Finland played, but six withdrew in Denmark, seven in Paris and nine in Saarbrücken.

Some officials in the sport tied the decision to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, where India won no individual badminton medal, a first since 2014. A senior SAI official rejected that link, saying BAI had not sent its proposal with player names 30 days before the events, as the rules require. Funding will resume for coming tournaments, the official said, although nothing will be paid back for Europe.

Prize money gap with tennis

Sindhu’s post, a reply to another user on X, set badminton’s purses beside tennis. A first-round loser at Wimbledon walks away with £80,000; the China Open champion earns $140,000 and a first-round loser there only $2,000, though travel and support staff cost about the same. She thanked the central government and SAI for years of backing and agreed that accountability mattered. She could manage her own costs, she wrote, but asked what an 18-year-old dreaming of following her and Lakshya was supposed to do. “Supporting athletes isn’t bleeding the system,” she added, calling it an investment in India’s sporting future.