New Delhi: Rio Games silver medallist P. V. Sindhu and London bronze winner Saina Nehwal went for low prices even as current Olympic champion Carolina Marin emerged as the costliest buy at the players auction of the second edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), here on Wednesday.
Two-time World champion Marin was bagged by Hyderabad Hunters for '61.5 lakh, while male shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals at Rio Olympics, fetched the highest amount by an Indian, when he was purchased for Rs 51 lakh by the Awadhe Warriors after a bidding battle with the Blasters.
Sindhu was unlucky to fetch an amount of just Rs 39 lakh despite being the best Indian iconic player after her performance at the Rio Olympics.
“In the draw of lots my name came out last so I got less but it is okay. I am just happy to be back with Chennai. Afterall, no one will think about the money but will remember how Indian badminton is growing and that is what matters,” said Sindhu, who was fetched by Chennai after outbidding Hyderabad by Rs 50,000.
Saina, who along with Lee Chong Wei, was the costliest buys at $100,000 during the first edition, went unsold in the first round of bidding and was retained by her previous franchise Awadhe Warriors for the base price of Rs 33 lakh.
South Korean woman shuttler Sung Ji Hyun emerged as the second costliest player as she went to Mumbai Rockets for Rs 60 lakh, while Denmark’s Jan O’Jorgensen fetched Rs 59 lakh from defending champions Delhi Acers.
A total of 15 iconic players went under the hammer and 12 of them were fetched by the six franchies. Among them, the Hunters landed Wee Kiong Tan of Malaysia for Rs 33 lakh and the Rockets bought Korea’s star Lee Young Dae for Rs 37.5 lakh. The Chennai side bought Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia for Rs 26 lakh while V. Shem Goh of Malaysia (Rs 33 lakhs) went to Lucknow.
Among other top Indian names, H.S. Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram were bought by Mumbai Rockets for Rs 22 lakh and Rs 19 lakh respectively, B. Sai Praneeth was taken by Hyderabad for Rs 21 lakh and Chinese Taipei champion Sourabh Varma was fetched for Rs 13 lakh by Bangaluru.
Doubles specialists Jwala Gutta was bought for Rs 10 lakh by Delhi, while Ashwini Ponnappa was roped in by the Blasters after using the right to match, following a bid by Delhi for the same amount.
Fifty out of the 154 players who went under the hammer were acquired by the six teams in fray, shelling out their kitty of Rs 1.93 crore each. Each team could acquire a maximum of 10 players, including six foreigners.
The League will be played from January 1-14, 2017 in a round-robin format, with each team clashing against each other once. Each such clash will comprise of five matches: two men's singles, one women’s singles, one men's doubles and one mixed doubles. Each tie will need to feature at least two Indians, apart from the icon player.
The matches will be three-game affairs, with each game curtailed to only 11 points. The winners of the League will take home Rs 3 crore while the runners-up Rs 1.5 crore. The losing semifinalists will get richer by Rs 75 lakh each.
