Badminton Premier League in Pune – Badminton update
After the success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) of cricket, Indian authorities have finally setup a Badminton Premier League in Pune, India. Several days ago, badminton players in India were unnerved by a situation that was created when merchandising
company, Premier Brands and the Badminton Association of India were unable to reach an agreement regarding the organization of Badminton Premier League tournaments. Now, after an agreement has been finalized, the Badminton Association of India has decided
that an Indian Premier League type Amanora Maharashtra League of Badminton will be inaugurated in Pune from Sunday with the participation of seventy-nine of the best badminton players in the country.
Several high profile players will be participating in the league from both men and womens sides. Jishnu Sanyal, who is the top national badminton doubles player, decided to play after receiving the highest price of 81,000 rupees from the men’s category.
In the women’s category, former national champion, Aditi Mutakar and Arundhati Pantwane from Pune, pledged to play after receiving 110,000 rupees.
The high prices for badminton players is quite revealing of the Badminton Association of India and the sponsoring companies aspiration. They seem very intent on creating an IPL-style badminton tournament hoping to emulate the success of cricket in India.
The matches in the league will be played only on the weekends from the seventh of May at WIE Sports Complex in Pune. There will be six teams participating in the tournaments and will be backed by Haveli Taluka Badminton Association along with the support
from several other badminton associations.
The players of each team are divided in ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories and each team has 250,000 rupees to spend on players according to their performances in the tournaments. Initially the price for category A is 30,000 rupees, for B category is 25,000 rupees
and for C category is 15,000 rupees.
Uday Sane, who is the secretary of the organizing committee of the badminton league and a well respected umpire of international repute said in an interview that he is amazed at the major amounts spent by the teams on their players. He further said that
the sponsors have invested a large amount on the players and he hoped it would yield results. Another remarkable thing is that like the IPL, almost six Marathi actresses are also invited to participate in the events of the league.
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