NEW DELHI: The Premier Badminton League (PBL) held its auction on Monday for Season 4 of the competition.
The event was of significance due to the addition of the Pune 7 Aces franchise, making for a nine-team league. As a result, all nine teams had to revamp their squads.
Each team was allocated a bidding purse of Rs 26 million and could buy a maximum of 10 players. As many as 145 players from 23 countries went under the hammer Monday.
As expected, women dominated the auction as the Indian duo of PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal fetched the highest price of Rs 8 million each. The reason the buck stopped at that amount is because this is the maximum amount a franchise could spend on one player as per the rules. Nearly all the ‘Icon Players’ were bid for that price.
Nehwal will shift base from Awadhe Warriors to NE Warriors while Sindhu joins her hometown team and defending champions Hyderabad Hunters from Chennai Smashers this season. Spanish superstar and Olympic 2016 Gold medallist Carolina Marin was also picked up for the same amount by the Aces.
In the men’s category, former World No.1 Kidambi Srikanth was a Rs 8 million pick for the revamped franchise, Bengaluru Raptors under new owners. Chennai Smashers and Ahmedabad Smashers weren’t to be left behind as they too splurged that much for World No.9 Sung Ji Hyun and World No.3 Victor Axelsen respectively. Delhi Dashers also went big for India’s HS Prannoy in this regard. Mumbai Rockets’ biggest buy was Korean doubles shuttler, Lee Yong Dae.
The auction also saw overseas picks Son Wan Ho (Awadhe) and World No.11 Tommy Sugiarto (Delhi) top Rs 7 million.
Amongst other Indian players, Parupalli Kashyap was a bargain Rs 500,000 buy for Chennai. As was Ajay Jayaram for Pune with a successful Rs 1 million bid.
Veteran doubles specialist Ashwini Ponnappa went for Rs 3.2 million to Awadh Warriors while 2018 Arjuna Award winner Sikki Reddy and young talent Satvik Sairaj were snapped up by Ahmedabad for Rs. 2.9 million and Rs. 5.2 million respectively.
Sameer Verma and Sai Praneeth also found eager takers in Mumbai and Bengaluru for Rs. 3.2 million and Rs. 4.2 million as well.
Full squads –
Mumbai Rockets: Lee Yong Dae (Rs. 8 million), Anders Antonsen (Rs. 5.5 million), Kim Ji Gung (Rs. 4.5 million), Sameer Verma (Rs. 4.2 million), Manu Attri (Rs. 1.8 million), Pia Zebadiah (Rs. 1.5 million), Kuhoo Garg (Rs. 200,000), Pratul Joshi (Rs. 100,000), Anura Prabhudesai (Rs. 100,000) and Shriyanshi Pardeshi (Rs. 100,000).
Ahmedabad Smash Masters: Viktor Axelsen (Rs. 8 million), Satvik Sairaj (Rs. 5.2 million), Daren Liew (Rs. 3.3 million), Sikki Reddy (Rs. 2.9 million), Kirsty Gilmour (Rs. 2.6 million), Sourabh Verma (Rs. 1.6 million), Anoushka Parikh (Rs. 300,000), K Nandagopal (Rs. 100,000) and Vaishnavi Bhale (Rs. 100,000).
Awadhe Warriors: Son Wan Ho (Rs. 7 million), Beiwen Zhang (Rs. 3.9 million), Mathias Christiansen (Rs. 3.7 million), Lee Dong Keun (Rs. 3.6 million), Ashwini Ponnappa (Rs. 3.2 million), Lee Yang (Rs. 3.1 million), Guru Sai Dutt (Rs. 700,000), MR Arjun (Rs. 500,000), Rasika Raje (Rs. 200,000) and S Ghorpade (Rs. 100,000).
Bengaluru Raptors: Kidambi Srikanth (Rs. 8 million), Mohammad Ahsan (Rs. 4.2 million), Hendra Setiawan (Rs. 4.2 million), B Sai Praneeth (Rs. 3.2 million), Lauren Smith (Rs. 2 million), Marcus Ellis (Rs. 2 million), Vu Thi Trang (Rs. 900,000), Nygun Tien Minh (Rs. 600,000), Sanjana Santhosh (Rs. 200,000) and Mithun Manjunath (Rs. 200,000).
Chennai Smashers: Sung Ji Hyun (Rs. 8 million), Chris Adcock (Rs. 5.4 million), Gabrielle Adcock (Rs. 3.6 million), Rajiv Ouseph (Rs. 2.4 million), Or Chung (Rs. 1.5 million), Chong Feng (Rs. 1.4 million), B Reddy (Rs. 1 million), Parupalli Kashyap (Rs. 500,000), Rituparna Panda (Rs. 200,000) and Saili Rane (Rs. 100,000)
Delhi Dashers: HS Prannoy (Rs. 8 million), Tommy Sugiarto (Rs. 7 million), Chai Biao (Rs. 4.2 million), M Jongjit (Rs. 2.3 million), Lee Hsin (Rs. 2 million), Wang Sijie (Rs. 1.5 million), E Kosetskaya (Rs. 500,000), Harika V (Rs. 100,000), V Devlekar (Rs. 100,000) and Chirag Sen (Rs. 100,000)
Hyderabad Hunters: PV Sindhu (Rs. 8 million), Lee Hyun (Rs. 6 million), Kim Sa Rang (Rs. 4.5 million), Eom Won (Rs. 3.7 million), Bodin Issara (Rs. 2.1 million), Mark Caljouw (Rs. 700,000), M Jakkampudi (Rs. 300,000), Rahul Yadav (Rs. 300,000), Arun George (Rs. 100,000) and Sai Rao (Rs. 100,000)
North Eastern Warriors: Saina Nehwal (Rs. 8 million), Yoo Yeon Seong (Rs. 4.9 million), Kim Ha Na (Rs. 4 million), Tian Houwei (Rs. 3.2 million), Liao Min Chun (Rs. 2 million), T Saensomboonsuk (Rs. 2 million), Rituparna Das (Rs. 600,000), A Siril Verma (Rs. 300,000), Kukkapalli Maneesha (Rs. 100,000) and Dhruv Kapila (Rs. 100,000).
Pune 7 Aces: Carolina Marin (Rs. 8 million), Mathias Boe (Rs. 5 million), Line Kjaersfeldt (Rs. 3.1 million), Brice Leverdez (Rs. 2 million), Vladamir Ivanov (Rs. 1.7 million), Chiraag Shetty (Rs. 1.4 million), Lakshya Sen (Rs. 1.1 million), Ajay Jayaram (Rs. 1 million), Sony Kuncoro (Rs. 1 million) and Prajakta Sawant (Rs. 300,000).
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