Maharashtra Badminton League to follow IPL structure for promotion of Badminton in India
The upcoming first edition of the Maharashtra Badminton League of India is getting much attention from all sporting bodies at the local and national levels as it is following the structure of the Indian Premier League.
The purpose of the MBL is to scale up the standard of the game in India and take it to the similar level of other popular sports in India.
In the upcoming event of the MBL, more than 200 players from the whole country will participate as it is the first badminton event which is going to adopt almost the same structure as the Indian Premier League has for cricket.
The IPL picked up players from every corner of the country and provided them with the best opportunities to prove their worth. In the same way, the MBL will provide a chance to the deserving shuttlers to participate in the major national and international
events.
The chairman of the MBL organising committee, Aniruddha Deshpande said, “We want to professionalise and improve the standard of the game. Once a player is picked by a franchisee, s/he gets training, physio , exposure to more events, is able to handle the
pressure and the glamour ... plus they remain in training through the year. In any case, in future , young children who do well at a game or sport will have to professionalise and we are helping the process.”
However, the players have some reservations. According to national shuttler Sameer Bhagwat, if the MBL becomes open to selecting all players from the whole country, then the oil companies that have hired the top 10 shuttlers will also overwhelm this League.
If it happens, then all top shuttlers of the national team will participate in the event and the local players, who manage to reach the quarter-final stages in the national events, would not be able to gain anything from the League.
The MBL cannot assure security and improvement to the local players if it becomes open for all. The regional players should also have something to achieve which will motivate them to for the bigger stage. Let’s see how this situation unfolds in the coming
days.
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