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India’s badminton star PV Sindhu and javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra have been named ISN’s Indian Female and Male Player of the Year for their outstanding performances for the country in 2022. Both athletes have been phenomenal in the last twelve months and brought pride to the country through their tenacity and dedication at the global level.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR FEMALE – PV SINDHU
In 2022, PV Sindhu won the Syed Modi International for the second time beating compatriot Malvika Bansod by 21-13 and 21-16 in the final. She then won the title at the 2022 Swiss Open, defeating Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan by 21-16 and 21-8 in the final in two straight games.
At the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships, where she was seeded fourth, Sindhu defeated fifth seed He Bingjiao of China in the quarterfinals, but lost a close and controversial semi-final to top seed Akane Yamaguchi by 21-13, 19-21 and 16-21, thus winning the bronze medal, her second medal at the tournament.
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She then won the Singapore Open title, beating Asian Champion Wang Zhiyi of China by 21-9, 11-21 and 21-15 in the final.
Sindhu’s biggest achievement came when she won her maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal in the women’s singles, beating Michelle Li of Canada by 21-15 and 21-13 in the final in Birmingham. With this win, she became only the second women’s singles player to win a full set of medals at the Commonwealth Games.
She was also unbeaten in the mixed team event, where India won a silver medal. However, during the Games, she sustained a left foot stress fracture injury that kept her out of all remaining tournaments of the year, including the World Championships and the World Tour Finals.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR MALE – NEERAJ CHOPRA
After becoming the first track and field athlete from India to win a gold medal with his throw of 87.58m at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Neeraj lifted a title that was a dream for Indian players till now after he won Diamond League Finals.
Chopra made the dream of crores of Indians come true in the month of September this year when the 24-year-old became the greatest Indian athlete of all time by achieving the title in Zurich.
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At the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 14, Chopra won the silver medal with a new personal best of 89.30m and registered a new national record.
He broke his own national record with a throw of 89.94 m in the Stockholm Diamond League; though he finished to achieve silver medal in the competition.
In year 2022, Chopra With his throw of 88.13m on his fourth attempt in the men’s javelin throw final in Oregon, Neeraj Chopra ensured himself a historic silver medal. This is India’s only second medal at the World Athletics Championships after long-jumper Anju Bobby George’s bronze in 2003.
Unfortunately, Neeraj couldn’t participate in Commonwealth Games 2022 due to an injury and was out of the field for a month.
However, On August 26, 2022, he won first place at the Lausanne Diamond League meet with a throw of 89.08m, and qualified for the Zurich Final and 2023 World Athletics Championships, Budapest in Hungary.
On September 8, 2022, Neeraj Chopra won the 2022 Diamond League final in Zürich, by producing his best throw of 88.44m in the second attempt at the final. He became the first Indian to do so while his biggest rival Jakub Vadlejch threw 86.94 in his fourth attempt.
For winning the Diamond League Finals, Neeraj Chopra was awarded the trophy, $30,000 as prize money, and a wild card for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
While Chopra’s Olympic glory is a paradigm shift for Indian athletics, it has also brought a windfall for him, upping his brand equity and endorsement value by several multiples. Right now, Chopra has 14 brands in his portfolio, 12 of which were signed post-Olympics.
Since Tokyo, his endorsement fees have also increased 10x to around Rs 3-4 crore per brand. According to industry sources, he is closing in on Rs 5-6 crore charged by cricketer MS Dhoni.
In 2022, Chopra earned Rs 36 crore in endorsements. The only other non-cricket athlete to command a higher premium in terms of brand value is shuttler PV Sindhu, a world champion and two-time Olympic medallist, who ratcheted up a brand value of $22 million in 2021, according to Kroll’s Celebrity Brand Valuation Report.
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