Unsold at a base price of $50,000 at last month’s Indian Badminton League auction, London Olympics men’s doubles silver medallist Denmark’s Mathias Boe has been signed up by the Lucknow franchise, Awadhe Warriors, as a replacement for now-banned Thai player Maneepong Jongjit.
Explaining the sequence of events leading to the inclusion of the Dane, Ashish Chadha of Sporty Solutionz, commercial partner of the IBL, said, “After remaining unsold, Boe had reduced his base price to $25,000 and was available as a replacement.
“Since the Badminton Association of Thailand communicated to all concerned about its decision to ban Jongjit (for three months following his on-court fight with doubles partner Bodin Issara during the recent Canada Open), the IBL’s governing council told the Lucknow franchise to replace Jongjit with a player from the reserve list of nine players.”
Lucknow, which spent $248,500, excluding $10,000 on Jongjit, at the auction, bought Boe for his revised base-price and strengthened its doubles combination.
Each franchise had a cap of $275,000.
It may be recalled that Boe, after being snubbed at the auction, had tweeted, “After the Thomas Cup next year (in New Delhi), I will never set my feet in India again or support any events from their side.”
And after getting the Dane on board, the IBL organisers quoted Boe as saying,
“India is a great badminton country with so many fans and I really look forward to be part of the event.”
