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The Indian Badminton League, which is to be inaugurated next month, will not be featuring players from badminton powerhouse China.
The IBL, inspired by cricket’s popular Indian Premiere League, failed to attract Chinese and Korean players in spite of being proclaimed as badminton’s richest event.
The tournament is to be held from August 14-31 and features six city-based franchises sold to business houses and individuals. But the million dollar event is losing much of its shimmer with the Chinese shuttlers backing out.
Former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar is said to have a stake in the Mumbai franchise which will play against teams from Pune, Lucknow, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The IBL begins soon after the world championships in Guangzhou, China.
An organizer said in an interview : “The Chinese will not be coming this year mainly because the IBL clashes with their national games, But we hope to convince them to take part next year.”
China has always been considered a heavyweight in this game. Apart from winning the Sudirman cup team event in Malaysia in May, they have also won all five titles up for grabs at both the world championships in London in 2011 and the London Olympics last year.
The players to be auctioned in IBL today are men’s world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and women’s world number three Saina Nehwal of India, including Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand, Hu Yun of Hong Kong, Juliane Schenk of Germany and Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. (Follow the auctions here)
Each team will comprise four foreign players, six Indians and one upcoming Indian junior.
Teams will play each other twice on a home-and-away basis in the preliminary league with the top four qualifying for the semifinals.
Each tie will comprise of five matches — two men’s singles, and one each in women’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Source: Hindustan Times
