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Indian doubles players Akshay Dewalkar (left) and Jishnu Sanyal have each attracted bids of Rs 90,000 in the Maharashtra Badminton League
The country’s first club-based league modeled after cricket’s hugely successful IPL will see its second edition kick off in Pune on May 26th. The Maharashtra Badminton League, which saw its debut season in 2011 being played to appreciative crowds, has increased its prize money to Rs 6.44 lakh from Rs 5 lakh last year. The final will be played on June 3. All matches will be held at PDMBA Sports Complex. Among the innovations this year are live streaming and selling of merchandise.
“Everything is in place for the event,” said Uday Sane, Organising Secretary, under whose stewardship the league had started last year. “This year we will have live streaming. We’re also selling merchandise, because we want to develop the MBL brand.”
Seven teams will be seen in action – up from six last year. The seven, all named after birds, are: Sensational Skylarks, Daring Doves, Inspiring Eagles, Fiery Falcons, Gorgeous Gannets, Graceful Gulls and Lifetime Linnets. The team auction was held on May 6th – and while the bids would never approach the astronomical amounts that cricketers fetch, they weren’t negligible either. Top players commanded bids upwards of Rs 70,000 for a week’s workout.
The top draws were Indian international doubles players Jishnu Sanyal and Akshay Dewalkar, who attracted bids of Rs 90,000 each; those who came close included Sagar Chopda (Rs 85,000), Tanvi Lad (Rs 82,000), Arundhati Pantwane (Rs 77,000), Eshan Naqvi (Rs 79,200) and Sayali Gokhale (Rs 77,000).
Besides this, players stand to take home prize money as well, depending on the discretion of their owners. Of the Rs 6.44 lakh prize money, the winners take home Rs 2.25 lakh and the runners-up Rs 1.75 lakh. The semifinalists make Rs 50,000 each. Organizers have decided to split the rest of the prize money for every league encounter. Every singles winner will make Rs 1000, while each winning doubles team will make Rs 1,500.
(For details on venue and schedule of matches, log in to: mbl.htba.in)
Teams:
Graceful Gulls (Owners: Gracelands, Nagpur): Arundhati Pantawane; Nishad Dravid; Riya Pilla; Harshil Dani; Manan Goenka; Nachiket Dhayagude; Shlok Ramchandran.
Daring Doves (Owners – Pratham Motors, Pune): Saili Rane; Sanyogita Ghorpade; Eshan Naqvi; Shubhankar Dey; Varun Khanwalkar; Jayendra Dhole; Prashant Bahatre
Inspiring Eagles (RBS Sportsethix, Pune): Jishnu Sanyal; Mudra Dhainje; Trupti Murgunde; Abhishek Kulkarni; Aditya Pandya; Rohit More; Siddhath Thakur; Vighnesh Devalekar
Fiery Falcons (6th Corner, Pune): Sayali Gokhale; Abhidnya Sawant; Gauri Ghate; Ameya Joshi; Ninad Kamat; Sudhanshu Medshikar; Tom Thomas; Yashodhan Marathe
Lifetime Linnets (Lifetime Realty Pvt Ltd, Mumbai): Neha Pandit; Harshad Bhagwat; Sagar Chopda; Sampada Sahastrabuddhe; Gandhar Marathe; Ishan Talwalkar; Nikhil Kolhatkar; Saee Purandare
Sensational Skylarks (Dajikaka Gadgil Developers Pvt Ltd, Pune): Tanvi Lad; Mayank Gole; Sameer Bhagwat; Noopur Shastrabuddhe; Dheeraj Kumar; Kaushal Dhamamer; Sanket Shirbhate
Gorgeous Gannets (Pinnacle Group, Pune): Akshay Dewalkar; Dhanya Nair; Akshay Raut; Ankush Jadhav; Bisal Das; Nihar Tilekar; Samruddha Rathod; Varun Sarode; Karishma Wadkar
