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The country’s first badminton league to have foreign players won its first big test on Sunday, during an auction held at a three-star hotel in Chennai which saw owners spending liberally for players. The Tamil Nadu Badminton League auction saw former world No.11 Chetan Anand win a bid of Rs 1.75 lakh from the Chennai-based team Dazzle Force.
The TNBL, the country’s third badminton league modeled after cricket’s successful IPL and the first to feature foreign players, saw six teams pick up 54 players – including a clutch of internationals. The event will be held from June 1 to June 10th, 2012 at Chennai and Coimbatore.
Six teams – two from Chennai, and one each from smaller cities like Coimbatore, Erode, Trichy and Madurai – have thrown their hats in the ring, making this league perhaps the most representative of all three such leagues in India. Most of the 54 players auctioned are from Tamil Nadu, but each team is allowed two guest players. The international players who were bid included Yogendran Krishnan and Yeoh Kay Bin of Malaysia, Edwin Ekiring of Uganda, Bjorn Seguin of USA and Stacey Doubell of South Africa. The cost of owning a team was Rs 2 lakh, and each team was allowed to spend between Rs 3 and 5.5 lakh for the auction. Each team consists of nine players and one non-playing captain-cum-manager.
The league is the brainchild of Indian player Aditya Elango, whose company Game Point brought it to fruition. “Although the idea was mine, the team that executed it consisted of T Maran, chief coach of Tamil Nadu, Abdul Rahim, CEO of Game Point, and Dolly Jain, COO,” Aditya told Sportskeeda. “The auction went off successfully. Everyone was happy. Some of the team owners are into sport, while others are looking at the branding opportunity. We had organized a ten-day camp for players, and some of the owners had observed the players. We had also provided statistics on each player and that helped them choose their team. Most of the matches will be in Chennai, but a couple will be held at Coimbatore too.”
Chetan Anand
Aditya himself won a bid for Rs 95,000 from Covai Panthers. The second-highest bid of Rs 1.10 lakh was for Tamil Nadu player Velawan from Temple City Knights, while a 17-year-old named Kanti V won Rs 80,000 from Chennai Singams. USA’s Bjorn Seguin (Rs 1 lakh), South Africa’s Stacey Doubell (Rs 1.20 lakh), and Edwin Ekiring (Uganda, Rs 90,000) were the other big winners at the auction.
The league will offer a total prize money of Rs 9 lakh, out of while the winners will take Rs 4 lakh and the runners-up Rs 2 lakh. The two losing semifinalists will be given Rs 75,000 each. Apart from this, winners of each tie will make Rs 10,000.
Read our earlier article on the league here:
League details
The six teams: Dazzle Force, Chennai Singams (both Chennai); Erode Eagles (Erode); Temple City Knights (Madurai); Covai Panthers (Coimbatore) and Delta Warriors (Trichy).
Event dates: June 1st to June 10th, 2012
Facebook: www.fb.com/tnleague
Event website: http://www.tnbadmintonleague.com/
