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The players and the administrators at the unveiling of the second season of the Indian Badminton League(IBL)After hitting a few speed bumps along the way when Sporty Solutionz, the sponsor for the first edition of the Indian Badminton league, claimed ownership of the tournament; it finally seems like the second season of the Indian Badminton League is back on track.The Delhi High court recently withheld the injunction, paving the way for the Badminton Association of India (BAI) to go on with the second edition as planned. The much awaited second season of the tournament will finally be returning in January 2016 after a gap of two years, bringing fresh action from the badminton court to eager fans. Here’s what one must look out for in the upcoming season of the IBL which will be played across six cities, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.
#5 A well-thought out youth initiative
With this edition of the IBL, the BAI announced a special venture called the "Shuttle India", an initiative which will organise badminton matches to be played among students of schools from the cities where the tournament’s matches will be held. The idea behind this initiative is to nurture the talent that young school students in these cities may have by giving them a platform and an opportunity to witness the big players in action at the IBL and even possibly interact with them.
Mr Das Gupta added, “The idea of creating a badminton league was not only to get international players on the same platform but even create a platform for the young guns at grassroots level to take the sport as a career and Shuttle India is an initiative towards that goal. With schools participating from across six cities, we are expecting huge participation amongst the students who are already getting formal training of the same at a local level.”
This initiative could indeed help in getting more kids to take up the game and thereby further helping in spreading the game to more and more people.
#4 New teams, new expectations
The Pune Pistons, which had the likes of Ashwini Ponnappa, Julien Schenk etc. will not feature in the second season of the IBL and will instead be replaced by a franchise from Chennai, since the BAI felt that it couldn't have two teams from the same state.
The inclusion of Chennai tilts the scale slightly in favour of the South since now there will be three teams in the fray from that part of the country while from the other three teams, two would be from the North- Delhi and Lucknow- and one from the West- Mumbai.
#3 Leading World talent to grace the court
BAI president, Akhilesh Das Gupta himself said that with a big name like Yonex backing the second edition of the IBL, it is bound to see increased international participation this time around, as the participation of the world’s top players who have a contract with it, is ensured.
The foremost name in the star-studded list of players set to come down for the IBL in 2016 is definitely that of current World No. 1 in women’s singles and the reigning World champion Carolina Marin.
China’s Lin Dan, currently ranked No. 3 in the world in men’s singles and is a two-time Olympic Champion and five-time World Champion is also likely to feature in the list of players.
Other big names include Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon who became the youngest singles world champion in the year 2013 at the age of 18 and Malaysian Lee Chong Wei, who recently won the men’s singles title at the Hong Kong Open are also likely to be a part of the two-week extravaganza.
#2 India Star attraction to look out for
Be it household names like Saina Nehwal, Ashwini Ponappa and Jwala Gutta who have won laurels for the country on several international platform in this discipline, or the emerging talent like P V Sindhu, P Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth, they will all be there.
The IBL is the perfect platform to witness the best names in the Indian badminton scene in action playing in interesting combinations depending on the teams which they get picked for. For example, successful doubles partners Gutta and Ponappa ended up being on different teams with the former playing for Delhi Smashers and the latter for Pune Pistons. Such interesting picks and combinations are bound to keep viewers engrossed.
#1 Bigger and better!
“It's a proud moment for me today as I announce the second edition of the Indian Badminton League and which I can assure you, will be bigger and larger than the first edition," said BAI President Akhilesh Das Gupta on October 29 while announcing the second edition of the IBL. Given that the association has had ample time to plan and execute the upcoming tournament, one can only infer that the association will keep up its promise.
Moreover, after the recent Sporty Solutions hurdle, fans have found it heartening to learn that the one and only Yonex, coveted sports brand especially for this sport, will be the equipment partner for this edition; making the event even more promising and exciting.
Also, the stakes too are higher this time around, with the prize money going from Rs 1.75 crore (roughly $214,500) to a whopping $1 million.
