Although the 25-year-old player lost the BWF World Badminton Championships in Jakarta, she has managed to regain her position as world’s number one player in badminton.
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IOS manages several high profile sportspersons like Sushil Kumar, Vijender Singh and recently cricketer Suresh Raina. Confirming the development to TOI, Saina said she was delighted at her new association with IOS. She is superbly talented player and world class competitor who demonstrates a very strong character through her passion and commitment to her game.
IOS said it will target a sum of Rs 25 crore in two years, depending upon Saina’s “consistency in maintaining her world ranking and also winning the gold medal at the Rio Olympics”. Though she signed a Rs 40-crore deal for three years in 2012, Saina walked out of it owing to some differences with the company.
On Thursday, she moved to rank No. 1 in the women’s singles category of the Badminton World Federation rankings, overtaking Carolina Marin despite losing to the Spaniard in the World Championship final last week. Then she shifted to Rhiti Sports Management Company, which is linked to MS Dhoni.
She insisted that winning the silver medal would, however, provide a lot of confidence to perform well in Japan and Korea Open, scheduled to take place next month.
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“I have been performing well in the worldwide circuit but at the same time I was looking for a sports management group that could manage my overall brand portfolio and logistics plus commercial activities in the best professional way”, said the 25-year-old. She secured the No. 1 rank for the first time on April 2 but remained there only for five weeks. “I believe she has the ability to translate those qualities into achieving great success working with global brands in the marketplace” added Tomar. She lost her top spot soon after that before regaining it again in May.
