MUMBAI: Chennai will not get to host the finals of the third season of the Premier Badminton League on 14 January 2018, as originally scheduled.
The city, defending champions of the last season, will still host the semi finals at Chennai’s JN indoor stadium, but the finals will be shifted to Hyderabad, SportzPower has been informed. As to the reasons why, while the city authorities had earlier confirmed the venue, it is now unavailable for reasons not clearly specified.
The league phase matches from 5 to 9 January however will be held on schedule, say insiders.
New Delhi, Guwahati and Lucknow are the three other cities where the PBL will be played out, beginning 23 December 2017. Guwahati is slated to open the season.
The third edition of the PBL will be an eight-team affair with the addition of two more franchises. Organised under the aegis of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) by Sportzlive, the official license holder of the league, the tournament will now add teams from Guwahati and Ahmedabad as well.
Players from 11 countries are participating in the tournament, and reigning world champion Viktor Axelsen, Son Wan Ho of Korea and Kidambi Srikanth of India among men and Tai Tzu, Carolina Marin, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Sung Ji Hyun of Korea and Tzu Wei Wang of Taiwan have been granted Icon status.
