Badminton Association of India to launch league right after London Olympics – Badminton News
Badminton has certainly grabbed attention in India as the national body is now toying with the idea to start Indian Badminton League (IBL) immediately after the mega London Olympics 2012.
Earlier, a state-level Maharashtra Badminton League (MBL) received an overwhelming response which forced the authorities to think in this direction.
For the record, the coming edition of MBL will see seven teams, Lifetime Linnets Mumbai, Graceful Gulls of Nagpur, Daring Doves, Inspiring Eagles, Fiery Falcons, Sensation Skylarks and Gorgeous Gannets racing for the crown.
These teams comprise of heavy weights like Arundhati Pantawane, Akshay Dewalkar and Sayali Gokhale along with young guns like Eshan Naqvi, Dhanya Nair, Sagar Chopda, Sameer Bhagwat and Neha Pandit.
Uday Sane, an official of Maharashtra Badminton Association, confirmed the news as he unveiled that they are done with plan of action and now they are just looking for a suitable date.
He said, “Following the success of the MBL last year, we plan on beginning the Indian Badminton League soon. We have sorted out the formalities and will now look at proper date to begin the tournament.”
Uday Sane looked happy at BAI joining hands with them. He briefed that they were planning to launch IBL in August but they had to delay this event as London Olympics will be in full swing at the same time.
He also told that now the league will be staged in October as they want to ensure participation of maximum national and international shuttlers in its first edition.
Uday said, “We want our best players to be part of this tournament and we want some good foreign players for the event as well. Since the Badminton Association of India (BAI) is teaming up with us, it is a blessing.”
The previous edition of MBL saw a decent number of shuttlers swinging their arms for cash prize of Rs. 500,000 and authorities hope that coming episode of this league will attract more campaigners.
This year, it will be staged in last week of May and prize money has been raised to Rs 644,000 while shuttlers will also receive fat cheques from owners of their teams.
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