All You need to Know about Premier Badminton League

Premier Badminton League

Premier Badminton League

Over the past few years, we have come across to various dedicated leagues for specific sports in India like Cricket, Football and Kabaddi and the main motive to organize the same was to promote the sport to greater levels in the country. Premier badminton league was one of the leagues which were established to promote the Badminton sport in Indian while providing the Indian players and specifically, the young Badminton talent in the country to play alongside some of the World-class players.

History and Background

First edition as IBL (2013)

IBL (2013)

The league was initially launched in India in the year 2013 under the name Indian Badminton League as a franchise-based league. It was Sportzlive who did secure the rights to manage and operate the whole league and the players’ altogether. The Inaugural edition got kick-started in 2013 between 14 Aug 2013 and 31 Aug 2013.

It was the team of Hyderabad Hotshots who emerged as the winners of the Inaugural season by beating the team of Awadhe Warriors in the finals of the first season. Moreover, the whole tournament was scheduled over six cities namely Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Second Season as Premier Badminton League (2016)

Premier Badminton League season 1

The Second edition of the Badminton league started in 2016 and was named as Star Sports Premier badminton league. The Tournament was held from 2nd January till 17 January 2016 and although the second edition could only become possible after a gap of three years due to the Busy International schedule and Dispute about the Sponsorship, it saw a grand opening with Bollywood start Akshay Kumar being its Brand Ambassador.

The Final of the Tournament was played between the teams of Delhi Dashers and Mumbai rockets and it was the team of Delhi who won with a score 4-3.

The Third Edition of PBL 2017-18

PBL 2017

The Third season got to see its start in the year 2017 in the month of January and was named as Vodafone Premier Badminton League. The Tournament was played in the same format as the previous two leagues in 2013 and 2016 and it consisted of 15 ties with each tie consist of 5 matches.

Moreover, it was the team of Chennai Smashers who won the title by beating the team of Mumbai Rockets 4-3.

The Fourth Edition of PBL 2018-19

Kidambi Srikanth continued his undefeated record as Bengaluru Raptors defeated Mumbai Rockets 4-3 in the final to emerge victorious in Premier Badminton League (PBL) Season 4 at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium.

The Fifth Edition of PBL 2019-20

Bengaluru Raptors become the first team to win two PBL titles, let alone back-to-back championships. The team deserves this because they snatched the important moments and came out on top when it mattered. And most importantly, Sai Praneeth and Tai Tzu Ying led from the front tonight. Bengaluru Raptors defeated Nothern Eastern warriors 4-2.

Interesting Facts about Premier Badminton League

Badminton’s Richest League

Badminton’s Richest League

With Prize money of more than $1 million across every season, the League was quoted as the Most Richest league in the Badminton world. Moreover, the auctions held over a period of last 5 years have seen various players from all around the world to grab a good amount during the auctions held in the process. Moreover, Spanish Player Caroline Marin proved to be the costliest player while grabbing 61.5 lakhs in the auction for the third edition. 

The Dispute which saw Delay in the Second Edition

The Second edition of the Badminton league was scheduled to play in the October month of 2014. However, due to certain disputes regarding the sponsorship deals between the event management company Sportzlive and BAI( Badminton Association of India), it was delayed until 2016.

Different Format  and Trump Rule

It was for the very first time that a Badminton tournament was being played in an 11 point format and not the usual 21 point format. Moreover, there was a unique Trump match rule which was inducted in the Badminton league where one match would be regarded as the Trump match and the team winning it would be provided with Extra points.

Key Highlights, Team Squads for PBL 2020

While the 4th edition of the Premier Badminton League 2020 would kick start on December 22nd 2018 in Mumbai, the heat is already on due to the recently held auctions for the Badminton League.

 

PBL Auction 2020: Players Retained

Among the seven franchises, six chose to retain a player each from the previous edition of the tournament.

1. Awadhe Warriors – Beiwen Zhang (Rs 39 Lakh)

2. Bengaluru Raptors – B Sai Praneeth (Rs 32 Lakh)

The Bengaluru Raptors will also be bolstered by the presence of World Championships bronze medallist Sai Praneeth, who renewed his ties with the team for Rs 32 lakhs.

3. Chennai Superstarz – B Sumeeth Reddy (Rs 11 Lakh)

4. Hyderabad Hunters – PV Sindhu (Rs 77 Lakh)

PV Sindhu was retained by her team for the maximum possible sum of Rs 77 lakh, becoming the joint highest-paid player in the upcoming season.

5. Mumbai Rockets – Kim Gi Jung (Rs 45 Lakh)

6. Pune 7 Aces – Chirag Shetty (Rs 15 Lakh 50 Thousand)

The Tapsee Pannu co-owned team chose to retain Indian doubles specialist Chirag Shetty for Rs 15.5 lakhs.

7. Northeastern Warriors – None

PBL Auction 2020: Most Expensive Players

Following an auction that lasted over five hours on Tuesday, here’s a list of the most expensive players:

1. Tai Tzu Ying – Bengaluru Raptors (Rs 77 Lakh)

2. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy – Chennai Superstarz (Rs 62 Lakh)

3. Ko Sung Hyun – Awadh Warriors (Rs 55 Lakh)

4. Lee Cheuk Yu – North East Warriors (Rs 50 Lakh)

5. Shin Baek Cheol – Awadh Warriors (Rs 45 Lakh)

5. Kim Gi Jung – Mumbai Rockets (Rs 45 Lakh)

2014 Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap was the next costliest Indian shuttler to be sold to Mumbai Rockets for Rs 43 lakhs while Lakshya Sen, who won four titles in the past two months, will turn out for Chennai colours after the Season 2 champions purchased him for Rs 36 lakhs.

Different Squads with Key Players

Full List Of Teams And Players 

Mumbai Rockets

Men’s Singles: Parupalli Kashyap (India), Lee Dong Keun (Korea), Shreyansh Jaiswal (India) – 

Women’s Singles: Shriyanshi Pardeshi (India), Men’s Doubles Kim Gi Jung (Korea), Kim Sa Rang (Korea), Pranav Jerry Chopra (India), Shlok Ramachandran (India)

Women’s Mixed Doubles: Pia Zebadiah (Indonesia), Jessica Pugh (England) 

Hyderabad Hunters

Men’s Singles: Sourabh Verma (India), Daren Liew (Malaysia), Kiran George (India) 

Women’s Singles: PV Sindhu (India), Ruthvika Shivani Gade (India) 

Men’s Doubles: Vladimir Ivanov (Russia), Ben Lane (England), Sean Vendy (England) 

Women’s Mixed Doubles: Sikky N Reddy (India)

Awadhe Warriors 

Men’s Singles: Subhankar Dey (India), Ajay Jayaram (India), Wong Wing Ki Vincent (Hong Kong)

Women’s Singles: Beiwen Zhang (USA), Tanvi Lad (India)

Men’s Doubles: Shin Baek Cheol (Korea), Ko Sung Hyun (Korea), Ivan Sozonov (Korea) 

Women’s Mixed Doubles: Christinna Pedersen (Denmark)  

Bengaluru Raptors

Men’s Singles: B Sai Praneeth (India), Brice Leverdez (France), Ansal Yadav (India)

Women’s Singles: Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei), Medha Shashidharan (India)

Men’s Doubles: Tak Ching Chang (Hong Kong), Chan Peng Soon (Malaysia), Arun George (India) 

Women’s Mixed Doubles: Eom Hye Won (Korea) 

Chennai Superstarz 

Men’s Singles: Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia), S Sankar Muthusamy (India), Lakshya Sen (India), K Sathish Kumar (India)

Women’s Singles: Gayatri Gopichand (India), Kristy Gilmour (Scotland)

Men’s Doubles: Sumeeth B Reddy (India), Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (India), Manu Attri (India)

Women’s Mixed Doubles: Sanjana Santosh (India), Gabrielle Adcock (England)

North Eastern Warriors 

Men’s Singles: Saensomboonsuk Tanongsak (Thailand), Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hong Kong), Kaushal Dharmamer (India) 

Women’s Singles: Ashmita Chaliha (India), Michelle Li (Canada), 

Men’s Doubles: Lee Yong Dae (Korea), Krishna Prasad Garaga (India), Bodin Isara (Thailand)

Women’s Mixed Doubles: Kim Ha Na (Korea), Rutuparna Panda (India) 

Pune 7 Aces 

Men’s Singles: Mithun Manjunath (India), Loh Kean Yew (Singapur), Kazumasa Sakai (Japan)

Women’s Singles: Thi Trang Vu (Vietnam), Rituparna Das (India)

Men’s Doubles: Chirag Shetty (India), Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia), Chris Adcock (England), MR Arjun (India)

Women’s Mixed Doubles: Tse Ting Suet (Hong Kong), Kuhoo Garg (India) 

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