A six-to-eight team Indian Badminton League is being planned to be held in February next year. Much on the lines of the IPL, international and national players will be auctioned to franchises, which will play league matches home-and-away.
The announcement was made by BAI President Akhilesh Das Gupta on the sidelines of the National badminton championship on Wednesday.
“Maharashtra will be the nodal agency for the planned league. The prize-money will be around Rs. one crore. Once the modalities are worked out, the BAI will make an announcement in the last week of this month,” said Gupta.
It has been reliably learnt that the team event will have two men’s singles besides one match each of women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles. The duration of the league can be up to three weeks.
The BAI executive committee also decided to form a panel including chief coach P. Gopi Chand, ex-chief coach Vimal Kumar and former international Pradeep Gandhe to “persuade” leading players to play the National championship, “Persuasion is the first step,” said Mr. Gupta hinting that the BAI is firm in ensuring the participation of the leading names in its flagship domestic event.
BAI will also make it a policy for any injured player to prove match-fitness before being considered for selection to the National team.
Plans are also afoot to have tournaments of shorter duration for players of various levels in each zone. “
We want the leading players to play for at least the last two days. Performances in these tournaments will be used for ranking purposes,” said Gupta.
