Mumbai: After a successful inaugural season on 2014, the much-anticipated India’s badminton league is back after a two-year hiatus. Earlier called as the Indian Badminton League, the tournament it is now re-christened as Premier Badminton League and it comes with a new look, new teams and some exciting rules. The world’s richest badminton league will be played from January 2 to January 17.
Six franchises will vie for top honours in the tournament, which will witness a total of 18 matches, including the semi-finals and the final. The opening match of the league will witness Awadhe Warriors led by Saina Nehwal take on Mumbai Rockets in Mumbai on Saturday.
With 2016 being an Olympic year, the PBL has acquired added importance. Despite facing its share of troubles, postponements and with two of its biggest draw — two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan and World No.1 women’s shuttler Carolina Marin giving it a miss — the second edition promises to be more entertaining and exciting. The league will feature top shuttlers like Lee Chong Wei, 2012 Mathais Boe, Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Joachim Fischer.
The marquee event will have top Indian stars like Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, and Parupalli Kashyap and RMV Guru Saidutt. The format of the league has been tweaked with an aim to infuse more action with shorter ties and addition of a ‘Trump Match’.
Each league stage as well as the knockout tie will have five matches — two men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles and mixed doubles. All matches will be played as best of three games, for 15 points and sudden death at 14-14.
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