Saina Nehwal is acing the ad game too. She just signed a Rs 25cr deal!

World No.1 badminton player Saina Nehwal is presently on cloud nine! There are two reasons for that, one she regained the top ranking and second the ace shuttler signed a new deal with IOS Sports & Entertainment that promised her Rs 25 crore in the next two years.

IOS also manages sportspersons such as boxers Mary Kom and Vijender Singh, wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, shooters Gagan Narang and Heena Sidhu and archer Deepika Kumari, reported the Economic Times.

Nehwal endorses brands such as Herbalife, Star Sports, Godrej, No Marks, Emami, Sahara, Indian Overseas Bank, Iodex and Commune Builder. She currently earns between Rs 5 crore and Rs 7 crore per year from around 10 endorsement deals, some of which are for digital ads.

Neerav Tomar, managing director and chief executive of IOS Sports, said his firm has been working with Nehwal for the past few years but only on one-off deals. "Now we have signed up to work exclusively with her. She is the world No. 1 now and she needs a bit of management and backing now," Tomar said.

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.

The 25-year-old is now one of the highest paid woman athletes in India. Boxer Mary Kom gets between Rs 4 crore and Rs 6 crore per year from endorsements and appearances.

So far, Saina was managing her endorsement deals herself. IOS Sports had recently signed a three-year, Rs 35-crore contract with Suresh Raina, ending the cricketer's association with Rhiti Sports Management owned by a friend of India ODI captain MS Dhoni.

With her at the top of the rankings again, Nehwal's brand value is likely to improve and so will her ability to charge higher.

Tomar said the deal with her to get Rs 25 crore in two years would depend on her performance at the 2015 Rio Olympics as well as her ability to maintain her No. 1 ranking for as long as possible in this two year period. "We want to grow both her portfolio and pricing," he said.

(Image: Indiatimes)