The stage is all set for the forthcoming season 3 of PBL as the bids started today in Hyderabad. Officials from BAI, PBL, Sportzlive, and the respective franchise heads poised at the event.
Bob Hayton, the professional certified Auctioneer who has more than 30 years standing, has brought down the hammer for this year’s PBL.
The 24-day long event from December 22 to January 14 is going to be very hysteric, wild, and agitated as spectators will witness world’s top players. With the total of 133 players, the iconic players to lookout in this season are, World No 1. shuttlers Viktor Axelsen and Tai Tzu Ying, P. V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, and Kidambi Srikanth, Tzu Wei Wang, Carolina Marin, Son Wan Ho, and Sung Ji Hyun.
This season is bigger than the previous versions with the addition of two more teams, North Eastern Warriors and Ahmedabad Smash, to make total of eight with Delhi Acers, Mumbai Rockets, Chennai Smashers, Bangalore Blasters, Hyderabad Hunters, Awadhe Warriors.
Unlike, the previous seasons - first season with 21-point format and season 2 with 11-point format - season three matches will be played on the 15-point format and the ‘Trump’ match will continue to be one of the star glamours.
National chief coach, Pullela Gopichand had explained the rules; with the total auction purse of Rs. 2.12 crores with 10 members, the teams should have maximum of 5 foreign players and must have minimum of 3 women players for the fare balance of the players. The team can have maximum of 2 icon players and minimum 1 along with one player has to be from U-17 category. Each team can bid maximum of 71 lakhs for a particular player. New teams can use 1 right to match for players who are making their debut in PBL.
And the winner’s purse is Rs. 3 crore, the runner-up will get Rs. 1.5 crore and the losing semifinalists Rs. 75 lakh each in the championship. The title sponsor for the mega event is Vodafone and Yonex being the kit provider.
While, each of the old teams got one chance to retain the player, P. V. Sindhu retained to Chennai Smashers, Saina Nehwal to Awadhe Warriors, Vlandir Ivanov to Delhi Acers, N. Sikki Reddy to Bangalore Blasters, Lee Yong Dae to Mumbai Rockets, and Satwik Sai Raj to Hyderabad.
The auction had begun in the second half of the day with the iconic players, World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying being the first bid bagged by the newly added team, Ahmedabad Smash Masters for 52 lacs followed by Chinese Taipei Tzu Wei Wang for 52 lakhs by North Eastern Warriors.
Carolina Marin who earlier spearheaded the Hyderabad Hunters is back to the home team for 50 lakhs. World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and World No. 2 Son Wan Ho taken by Bengaluru Blasters and Mumbai Rockets respectively for 50 lakhs each. With the continuous and smooth bids going around, the surprise kicked in with Sung Ji Hyun, the World No. 3 being unsold in her first bid, later the Korean went to Delhi Acers for 50 lakhs.
On the other hand, the teams had continued the same pace in bidding on the emerging and young shuttlers not to lose the spot. Aarthi Sara Sunil, the doubles shuttler went to Delhi Acers for the base price of 3 lakhs, while, Chirag Shetty and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde caught by North Eastern Warriors for 5 lakhs and 9 lakhs respectively. Kidambi Nandagopal and Shreyanshi Pardeshi went for 1 lakh each to Ahmedabad Smash Masters and Delhi Acers.
Double Ace shuttler, Prajakta Swant will show her prowess for the new team North Eastern Warriors for 7 lakhs, while, the mixed doubles specialist Anoushka Parikh joined the roar of Hyderabad Hunters.
Chennai Smashers who being the Champion of season 2 continued, retaining their players with hero of the last season finals, Tanongsak S for 25 lakhs, while the adcock pair, Chris and Gabby, joined the team for 54 lakhs and 48 lakhs respectively.
India's HS Prannoy became the costliest player at the players auction of the Premier Badminton League with a bid of Rs. 62 lakh by the new team Ahmedabad Smash Masters.
With the two new teams in place along with the world class and emerging players roped in, the forthcoming season III of PBL auctions concluded with all smiles followed by the press conference with the officials from BAI, Sportzlive, and the top Indian shuttlers, P. V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, H. S. Prannoy, Sai Praneeth B, Kashyap, and Sikki Reddy.
With the strong and solid players in each team, here are the final squads of each team.
Awadhe Warriors:
- Saina Nehwal
- Kidambi Srikanth
- Tang Chun Man
- Christinna Pedersen
- Or Chin Chung
- Mahima Aggarwal
- Parupalli Kashyap
- Sai Uttejitha Rao
- Harshit Aggarwal
- Hendra Setiawan
Bangalore Blasters:
- Viktor Axelsen
- Mathios Boe
- Kim Sa Rang
- Sikki Reddy
- Manu Atri
- Kirsty Gilmour
- Harsheel Dani
- Rituparna Das
- K. Maneesha
- Chong Wei Feng
Delhi Acers:
- Sung Ji Hyun
- Vladimir Ivanov
- Tian Houwei
- Aarthi Sara Sunil
- Ivan Sozonov
- Ashwini Ponnappa
- Pranaav Chopra
- Shreyanshi Pardesi
- Guru Sai Dutt
- Wong Wing Ki
Chennai Smashers:
- P. V Sindhu
- Gabrielle Adcock
- Chris Adcock
- Brice Leverdez
- Tanongsak S
- Daniel Farid
- Aditya Joshi
- B Sumeeth Reddy
- Tanvi Lad
- Lee Yang
Hyderabad Hunters:
- Carolina Marin
- Satwiksai Raj Rankireddy
- Pia Zebadiah
- Yoo Yeon Seong
- B. Sai Praneeth
- Lee Hyun II
- Rasika Raje
- Rahul Yadav
- Anoushka Parikh
- Lu Ching Yao
Mumbai Rockets:
- Lee Yong Dae
- Son Won Ho
- Sameer Verma
- Beiwen Zhang
- Gabriela Stoeva
- Kona Tarun
- M R Arjun
- Tan Boon Heong
- Kuhoo Garg
- Sanyam Shukla
North Eastern Warriors:
- Tzu Wei Wang
- Ajay Jayaram
- Chirag Shetty
- Prajakta Sawant
- Shin Baek Cheoul
- Ruthvika Shivani Gadde
- Kim Gi Jung
- Sanyogita Ghorpade
- Pratul Joshi
- Michelle Li
Ahmedabad Smash Masters:
- Tai Tzu Ying
- Kamilla Rytter Juhl
- Lee Reginald
- Kidambi Nandagopal
- Law Cheuk Him
- Sourabh Verma
- H. S. Prannoy
- Siril Verma
- Stefani Stoeva
- Sri Krishna Priya
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