How Olympic silver medal winner P V Sindhu beat Sachin Tendulkar

Endorsements and brand promotion are now the bread and butter of every successful athlete - consider Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man, 99.14 per cent of whose earnings are from endorsements.Last year saw a decline in sportspersons' earnings from endorsements, due to a steep fall - 63 per cent - in the earnings of non-cricketing sports stars, compared to the year before.Cricket  stars however, had no such worries - though even the highest paid sports icon, Virat Kohli, saw his brand count lessen to 19, from 20 in 2016. His earnings though, ratcheted up to Rs 150 crore from Rs 120 crore in 2016.

Former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who earned Rs 65 crore from 12 brands in 2016, saw his brand value and endorsement earnings decline in 2017 - to Rs 55-60 crore from 13 brands.

The retired master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar, who is the founding member of the Rs 100 crore endorsement club, still manages to pull in advertising moolah, more than four years since he hung up his boots.Tendulkar earned Rs 25-30 crore from nine brands in 2017, compared to Rs 45 crore from eight brands in 2016 - a clear indication that his brand value is now rapidly declining.

The biggest story of last year however is the entry of an Indian woman athlete into the top five of the endorsement club, with badminton star P V Sindhu, who won the 2016 Olympic Silver Medal, taking home more than Rs 30 crore last year from 11 brands. This was a 300 per cent jump from her endorsement earnings in 2016, which totalled Rs 7.5 crore from six brands.

Surprisingly, it wasn't just Indian sportspersons who enjoyed a high brand recall value, by association with various companies. Retired French soccer player Zinedine Zidane was roped in by realty player Kanakia Spaces for a Rs 10 crore-a-year deal to promote their Kanakia Paris project in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex.

After a globally publicised personal scandal that saw all his brand endorsements vanish, just like the millions of dollars he coughed up as divorce settlement, Tiger Woods found some rehabilitation in India, with a four  year, Rs 50 crore per annum contract with Hero MotoCorp. That's one outsourcing deal even the most protectionist US politician wouldn't grudge.