New Delhi: World Champion PV Sindhu was Tuesday retained by ‘Hyderabad Hunters’ for Rs 77 lakh in the auction for the fifth season of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) here.
World No. 1 women’s singles player Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei was also bought for joint highest amount of Rs 77 lakh by defending champions ‘Bengaluru Raptors’ after a bidding war with the ‘Pune 7 Aces’.
Among the Indian men players, B Sai Praneeth was retained by ‘Benagluru Raptors’ for Rs 32 lakh. However, Sourav Verma bought by ‘Hyderabad Hunters’ at Rs 41 lakh and Lakshya Sen, sold to Chennai Superstarz at Rs 36 lakh, got the highest amounts among the Indians. The highest price in the men’s segment was fetched by Lee Cheuk Yiu who was bought by North Eastern Warriors at for Rs 50 lakh.
Among other Indians who were retained by their respective franchises were men’s doubles players B Sumeeth Reddy (Rs 11 lakhs by ‘Chennai Superstarz’) and Chirag Shetty (Rs 15.50 lakhs by ‘Pune 7 Aces’).
World No.9 American women’s singles player Beiwan Zhang too was retained by ‘Awadhe Warriors’ for Rs 39 lakhs.
National badminton coach Pullela Gopichand’s daughter Gayatri Gopichand was picked up by ‘Chennai Superstarz’, while young Assamese shuttler Ashmita Chaliha was bought by her home team ‘North Eastern Warriors’. Both were sold for Rs 3,00,000 each.
The PBL season 5 lost some sheen after London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth pulled out of the event to focus on their international careers.
While Saina, who played for ‘North Eastern Warriors’ in the last PBL, pulled out of the 2020 event to prepare herself for the next international season, Srikanth wants to prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
A total of 154 players, including Sai Praneeth, Lakshya Sen, and men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, were also part of the auction. The next edition of PBL will see a total of 74 Indian shuttlers in action from January 20 to February 9.
Seven teams – Awadhe Warriors (Lucknow), Bengaluru Raptors (Bengaluru), Mumbai Rockets (Mumbai), Hyderabad Hunters (Hyderabad), Chennai Superstarz (Chennai), North Eastern Warriors (North East) and Pune 7 Aces (Pune) – will compete in the 21-day event to be played in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Lucknow.
Each franchise had a purse of rupees two crore but were not allowed to spend more than Rs 77 lakh for a player. The teams will comprise a maximum of six foreign players and a minimum of three female shuttlers in a squad of not more than 11.
The format of the upcoming edition of the league remains the same with each tie consisting of five matches – two men singles, one women singles, one men doubles and one mixed doubles.
PTI