New Delhi: Ace Spanish badminton ace Carolina Marin, who defeated India's PV Sindhu to win an Olympic gold in women's singles final last year, was quite surprised after hearing the amount of cash rewards the Hyderabad shuttler received after becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to win a Silver medal at the biggest sporting extravaganza.


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Speaking at a press conference in Delhi recently, Marin, who is in India to take part in the ongoing Premier Badminton League, said, “I heard she (Sindhu) got millions. That’s huge. I, too, got some cash award from the Spanish government."


"I actually roughly received 10-15 % of the money Sindhu got, but this is a great indicator that the sport is so popular here. Back in Spain, it’s only popular in certain regions, even there the craze isn't this big. So the country is a model of sorts for commercial development of the sport," Marin was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.


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After Marin defeated Sindhu in the final at the Rio Games to become the first non-Asian woman to win the Olympics gold in the badminton singles event, the Spanish government rewarded her with ^94,000 (approx Rs 70 lakh).


On the other hand, several brands approached Sindhu, who became the toast of the nation overnight. For her historic feat, the 21-year-old was showered with more than Rs 13 crore in cash awards by different state governments and government institutions. Apart from this, Sindhu was also presented a luxury car by cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar on behalf of Hyderabad Badminton Association’s president, V Chamundeswaranath. She also reportedly signed endorsement deals of Rs 50 crore for three years from various companies recently.


Interestingly, Marin had defeated Saina Nehwal in the finals of the All England and World Championship last year.


When asked to compare the two players, Marin said, "I think both are great players, I can't select one of them, both are different and tough to beat. I really have to get my 100 per cent to defeat them."


Marin is representing the Hyderabad Hunters at the second season of the Premier Badminton League, where a 11-point best of three games scoring system is being employed. In fact, BWF is also trying an 11-point scoring system in international circuit as well.