Premier Badminton League Auction: Saina Nehwal Matches Lee Chong Wei as Costliest Player
Saina Nehwal and Lee Chong Wei were picked by Awadh Warriors and Hyderabad Hunters respectively at $100, 000 (Rs 66.71 lakh approx) at the Premier Badminton League auction. The tournament starts from January 2
Top stars Saina Nehwal and Lee Chong Wei were the costliest players at the Premier Badminton League (PBL) auction, fetching a whopping $100,000 (Rs 66.71 lakh approx) each, while Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth were bought for $95,000 (Rs 63.37 lakh) and $80,000 (Rs 53.40 lakh), respectively, here on Monday. (Premier Badminton League: Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth Among 50 Players to go Under Hammer)
World No. 2 Saina and former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei were bought by Awadh Warriors of Lucknow and Hyderabad Hunters respectively for Rs 66,70,745 each in a closed door bidding on Sunday, even though their names were mentioned in the players list which went under the hammer in the open session on Monday.
PV SIndhu and Kidambi Srikanth - Other Top Gainers
Two-time bronze medallist at the World Championship and winner of Macau Open, Sindhu found herself in the middle of an aggressive bidding among Delhi Acers, Mumbai Rockets and Chennai Smashers and she was finally bought by Vijakant's son Shanmugapandian-owned Chennai Smashers for approx Rs 63,37,207.
World No. 9 Srikanth, who won the Swiss Open and India Super Series this season, attracted fierce bids from Bangalore Top Guns and Mumbai Rockets before being bought by the former for approx Rs 53,40,756.
Indonesian player Tommy Sugiarto, who beat Srikanth in the final of Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold last week, was picked by Delhi Acers for $74,000 (approx Rs 49,36,351).
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Parupalli Kashyap Gets Low Price
Among other Indians, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, who is recovering from an injury, went to Hyderabad for a lowly $35,000 (approx Rs 23,347,60), same as Ajay Jayaram, who went to Delhi Acers.
Men's doubles player B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri went for their base price of $25,000 (approx Rs 16,67,686) to Bengaluru Top Guns and Mumbai Rockets respectively.
2010 Commonwealth Games champion Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who found themselves in the middle of a controversy after their base price was reduced before the 2013 IBL Players' auction, went for $30,000 to their homes cities --Hyderabad and Bengaluru respectively. However, the official twitter handle of PBL mentioned them fetching $60,000 each.
Promising Indian shuttler HS Prannoy fetched $47,000 (approx Rs 31,35,250) from Mumbai franchise, owned by Devyani Leisures Pvt. Ltd, while Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboosuk, who had a base price of $15,000, fetched $41000 from Awadhe Warriors.
Russia's Vladimir Ivanov was bought by Mumbai Rockets for $42,000 (approx Rs 28,01,712), while England's Rajiv Ouseph was taken by Delhi Acers for $36,000 (approx Rs 24,01,468) during the auction which started after a two hour delay.
Six teams -- Hyderabad Hunters, Mumbai Rockets, Delhi Acers, Bengaluru Top Guns, Awadh Warriors, Chennai Smashers - each had a total purse of $270,000 (Approx Rs 1,80,11,011).
Mumbai and Hyderabad wanted to buy Lee Chong Wei and both bid the maximum again but after a draw of lots, the Malaysian went to Hyderabad, owned by Agile Security Force Pvt. Ltd.
BAI had organised Indian Badminton League in 2013 but thereafter for two years -- 2014 and 2015 -- the League did not take place.
The lucrative tournament, now known as PBL, will kick-start on January 2 in Mumbai with an extravagant opening ceremony and the grand finale will take place here on January 17.