Last weekend saw some popular faces from the film industry trickle into The Park hotel for the launch of the Indian Badminton Celebrity League, a star-studded badminton series with a social mission.
The Indian Badminton Celebrity League (IBCL) is being put together so that Kollywood celebrities can lend some glamour to the sport and find sponsors to help it grow. The funds will help support talented players who come from financially-weak backgrounds, so that they can work towards winning coveted medals.
Badminton is a relatively low profile sport and it is a good idea to have celebrities come forward to endorse it. Badminton player P.V. Sindhu who was announced as the brand ambassador of IBCL unveiled the logo along with film director Venkat Prabhu at the event. The series is scheduled to take part in August but it is still not known as to which actors will be available to play.
For the celebrities who attended the event, it was a chance to support a sport, and meet friends. Venkat Prabhu, who is rallying support from the cine industry, thinks it is time for not just the actors but also other technicians to get fit.
Standing on stage post the photo session, he patted his belly, and said, “In a month, all this will be gone” to a burst of laughter.
Actor Gayathri Raguram who hasn’t played badminton since school said she was looking forward to getting back to the sport and supporting a good cause. While Gayathri was not sure how the season was going to progress, actor Nithin Satya has already commenced practise sessions for the IBCL and is waiting for other actors to join him.
Not all the stars who have come forward to support the series are active sportspersons. VJ Ramya Subramanian who claimed she had to look up the meaning of the term ‘Badminton’ before attending the event said, “I’m not very competitive while playing sports, so it’s going to be fun to hang out and play with friends I don’t get to see often.”
Actor Aadhi felt that this will be a chance for actors who are shuttling between sets to connect with people within the industry. “I’ve never met Ganesh before, this launch event helped me do so,” said Aadhi, speaking about actor Ganesh Venkatraman who is also going to be part of the league.
In the coming months, actors will be able to figure out their schedules and sport enthusiasts will soon know which big names from Kollywood will quit the gym and pick up the racquet instead. As for the celebrities, there’s fun, fraternising and badminton in store this season.
