Mumbai: Saina Nehwal’s Awadhe Warriors will take on Mumbai Rockets in the opener of Premier Badminton League (PBL). The tournament will kick-off with a glittering opening ceremony at the National Sports Club Of India on Saturday.
This edition of the revamped league will see six franchise fighting it out against each other for top glory . Besides Mumbai Rockets , other five franchisee participating are Delhi Acers, Hyderabad Hunters, Bengaluru Top Guns, Chennai Smashers, and Lucknow-based Awadhe Warriors.
The PBL will have a new concept – Trump match – that’s expected to keep the interest till the end of a tie.
The League, revived after a gap of two years following a successful inaugural Indian Badminton League in 2013, has brought in the fresh idea in which each of the competing teams will nominate one match in each tie as their Trump Card.
A victory by the team that picked the particular game as its Trump will provide it with one extra point but a defeat will set it back by one point, and the intrigue generated by this new concept would keep the ties alive till the end .
World no. 2 Saina, who commanded USD 100,000 at the auction, would be leading Awadhe Warriors’ challenge against Mumbai Rockets who appear strong in men’s singles with two top men shuttlers of the country – H S Prannoy and R M V Gurusaidutt – leading their charge.
The host outfit has a strong men’s doubles players in Denmark’s Mathias Boe and Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov.
Clouds of uncertainty were hovering over the event in October after partners Sporty Solutionz filed a petition against the Badminton Association of India (BAI) in the Delhi High Court vis-a-vis the rights of the tournament. But the Delhi High Court gave BAI clearance in November and withheld the injunction that Sporty Solutionz had requested.
This was the second such petition that has been filed by Sporty Solutionz after the BAI terminated the IBL contract on April 21. The first petition, a copy of which is in possession of IANS, was dismissed by the high court on May 29.
Finally in December, the Supreme Court allowed the BAI to hold the PBL from January 2 to 17.
Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez and music composer duo Salim-Sulaiman will perform at the opening ceremony.
The winners will receive Rs.3 crore, the runners-up Rs.2 crore and the two semi-finalists will get Rs.75 lakh each.