The player auction for the third season of Premier Badminton League (PBL) will be held in Hyderabad on Monday, October 9. The upcoming edition is certainly getting bigger and better as two new teams -- Ahmedabad Smashers and the North Eastern Warriors -- are entering the fray, making it an eight-team affair.
Started in 2013 as the Indian Badminton League, the cash-rich badminton tournament garnered a lot of attention during its second season in January 2017. PV Sindhu, who was fresh after Rio Olympic success, set the stage on fire with some delightful performances and led her side, Chennai Smashers to a maiden title.
Season 3 is scheduled to be played between December 22, 2017, and January 14, 2018, across five venues in the country -- Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati.
Teams and prize money
Eight teams, including former champions Delhi Acers and Smashers, will be battling for the ultimate prize in the upcoming season.
- Ahmedabad Smashers
- Awadhe Warriors
- Bengaluru Blasters
- Chennai Smashers
- Delhi Acers
- Hyderabad Hunters
- Mumbai Rockets
- North Eastern warriors
The winning team will take home Rs 3 crore and the runner-up will get Rs 1.5 crore. The two semi-finalists will get Rs 75 lakh each.
Icon Players
Reigning world champion Viktor Axelsen, Son Wan Ho of Korea and Kidambi Srikanth of India among men and Tai Tzu, Carolina Marin, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Sung Ji Hyun of Korea and Tzu Wei Wang of Taiwan have been granted Icon status.
Players from as many as 11 countries, including China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Germany and Hong Kong will be up for grabs in the mega auction.
All you need to know about the auction
When does the auction start and how to watch it live
The auction will be held in Hyderabad on Monday from 1pm IST, 8:30am GMT.
Global live streaming: PBL's official Facebook page
Live updates will be available on PBL's Twitter and Facebook pages
- More than 200 players, including big names from China, are expected to available for auction on Monday.
- All the available players will go through the auction process, with the six existing teams allowed to invoke their 'Right to Match' (RTM) option.
- Each team will have a purse of Rs 2.12 crore with a cap of Rs 72 lakh.
- All eight teams will have 10 players each.
- No more than six foreign players are allowed in each team.
- Each team should have three women players.
'Global brand'
Expressing his delight over such a top class field for the auction, BAI president and Chairman of PBL, Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "PBL has quickly become a global brand in badminton and the emergence of major players from across the world is testimony to that. We are glad to be back with the third season and promise our fans and the players that we will leave no stone unturned to make it bigger and better with each passing year and deliver a world class League."
The league which is held under the aegis of Badminton Association of India is conducted by Sportzlive, the Gurgaon sports management company who have acquired the long-term license to execute and deliver PBL.
"The league has been growing in stature every year. We believe it will take a quantum leap this year. Our goal is to make it the most admired Olympic sports league in the country, if not the world, and we have everything in place to make that happen. India's players have been doing exceptionally well on the international stage and it has helped a lot in garnering the required attention from sponsors as well as fans," Mr. Atul Pande, Managing Director of Sportzlive, said.
