PV Sindhu 12th highest-paid female athlete of 2022

PV Sindhu was the world's 12th highest-paid female athlete in 2022, according to the Forbes list released last week.

The 27-year-old was the only badminton player and the only Indian in the list of top 25 female athletes released by the American business magazine.

The world No 6 won the Syed Modi India International in Lucknow in January, the Swiss Open in March and the Singapore Open in July before clinching a historic gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. She has been out of action with an injury since then, but has still managed to hold on to her world rank.

Sindhu will next be seen at the India Open in New Delhi later this month.

According to the figures released by Forbes, Sindhu had a total earning of $7.1 million (Rs.59 crore) in the year.

The highest paid female athlete was Naomi Osaka. She was followed by Serena Williams. Seven of the 11 athletes who got paid more than Sindhu were tennis players. Eileen Gu (Freestyle Skiing, China), Simona Biles (Gymnastics, USA), Minjee Lee (Golf, Australia) and Candace Parker (Basketball, USA) are the four from other sports who earned more than Sindhu.

This is also the first time eight women athletes have earned $10 million each.

Notably, $7 million of Sindhu's earnings came from off the field. From those ahead of her, only Simone Biles had less on-field earnings than Sindhu.

Top 12 world's highest paid female athletes in 2022:

1. Naomi Osaka (Japan) - Tennis - $51.1 million

2. Serena Williams (USA) - Tennis - $41.3 million

3. Elieen Gu (China) - Skiing - $20.1 million

4. Emma Raducanu (UK) - Tennis - $18.7 million

5. Iga Swiatek (Poland) - Tennis - $14.9 million

6. Venus Williams (USA) - Tennis - $12.1 million

7. Coco Gauff (USA) - Tennis - $11.1 million

8. Simone Biles (USA) - Gymnastics - $10 million

9. Jessica Pegula (USA) - Tennis - $7.6 million

10. Minjee Lee (Australia) - Golf - $7.3 million

11. Candace Parker (USA) - Basketball - $7 mil

12. PV Sindhu (India) - Badminton - $7 mil