MUMBAI: The top four women players in the world and 11 of the planet’s top 20 men’s players have confirmed participation in the third edition of the Premier Badminton League, which begins this December.
Organised under the aegis of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) by Sportz & Live Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the official license holder of the league, the tournament will now be an eight team affair, with the addition of franchises from Guwahati and Ahmedabad.
Among those who have confirmed their presence for this edition are Viktor Axelsen and Tai Tzu Ying, ranked number one in the BWF rankings. World number two and PBL’s biggest draw PV Sindhu is also confirmed, as are world number three and four Sung Ji Hyun and Carolina Marin respectively.
India’s erstwhile badminton queen Saina Nehwal and top male star Kidambi Srikanth have also confirmed their participation in the event.
The season commences on 22 December and will conclude on 14 January 2018 and will be played in four cities with Chennai hosting the final. While six teams battled for the top honours and a prize purse of Rs60 million last year, this year, the winners stand to win Rs60 million, while the runner-up will earn Rs30 million.
With the addition of two new teams and the coming together of the best field in terms of talent the league has ever witnessed, PBL 3 has all the makings of a ratings and fan engagement hit.
Speaking of ratings, the broadcast rights for the league are with Star Sports.
List of Players:
| S. No |
Name |
Current BWF Rank |
Country |
| Icon A |
|
|
|
| 1 |
Viktor Axelsen |
MS – 1 |
DEN |
| 2 |
Tai Tzu Ying |
WS – 1 |
TPE |
| 3 |
Son Wan Ho |
MS – 2 |
KOR |
| 4 |
P V Sindhu |
WS – 2 |
IND |
| 5 |
Sung Ji Hyun |
WS – 3 |
KOR |
| 6 |
Carolina Marin |
WS – 4 |
ESP |
| 7 |
Kidambi Srikanth |
MS – 8 |
IND |
| 8 |
Tzu Wei Wang |
MS – 10 |
TPE |
| 9 |
Saina Nehwal |
WS – 12 |
IND |
| Men Singles (MS) |
|
|
|
| 1 |
Tanangsak Saensomboonsuk |
12 |
THA |
| 2 |
Prannoy H. S. |
15 |
IND |
| 3 |
Wing Ki Wong Vincent |
16 |
HGK |
| 4 |
B. Sai Praneeth |
17 |
IND |
| 5 |
Sameer Verma |
19 |
IND |
| 6 |
Ajay Jayaram |
20 |
IND |
| 7 |
Lee Hyun Il |
22 |
KOR |
| 8 |
Brice Leverdez |
24 |
FRA |
| 9 |
Sourabh Verma |
33 |
IND |
| 10 |
Chong wei Feng |
41 |
MAS |
| 11 |
Parupalli Kashyap |
46 |
IND |
| 12 |
Vladimir Malkov |
61 |
RUS |
| 13 |
Zhu Siyuan |
144 |
CHN |
| 14 |
Shubanker Dey |
75 |
IND |
| 15 |
Aditya Joshi |
80 |
IND |
| 16 |
Abhishek Yeligar |
82 |
IND |
| 17 |
Pratul Joshi |
83 |
IND |
| 18 |
Harsheel Dani |
91 |
IND |
| 19 |
AA Siril Verma |
94 |
IND |
| 20 |
Lakshya Sen |
|
IND |
| 21 |
Chirag Sen |
|
IND |
| 22 |
Daniel Farid |
|
IND |
| 23 |
Bodit Joshi |
|
IND |
| 24 |
Rahul Yadav |
|
IND |
| 25 |
Rohit Yadav |
|
IND |
| 26 |
Shreyansh Jaiswal |
|
IND |
| |
|
|
|
| Women Singles (WS) |
|
|
|
| 1 |
Beiwen Zhang |
11 |
USA |
| 2 |
Kristy Gilmour |
21 |
SCO |
| 3 |
Yip Pui Yin |
25 |
HKG |
| 4 |
Chiang Mei Hui |
29 |
TPE |
| 5 |
Michelle Li |
35 |
CAN |
| 6 |
Evgeniya Kosetskaya |
37 |
RUS |
| 7 |
Linda Zetchiri |
42 |
BUL |
| 8 |
Rituparna Das |
47 |
IND |
| 9 |
Ksenia Polikarpova |
57 |
ISR |
| 10 |
Natalia Perminova |
58 |
RUS |
| 11 |
Krishna Priya |
60 |
IND |
| 12 |
Maria Ulitina |
73 |
UKR |
| 13 |
Ruthvika Shivani |
92 |
IND |
| 14 |
Tanvi Lad |
94 |
IND |
| 15 |
Sai Utejita Rao |
95 |
IND |
| 16 |
Iris Wang |
|
USA |
| 17 |
Liu Zi Die |
|
CHN |
| 18 |
Aakarshi Kashyap |
|
IND |
| 19 |
Shreyanshi Pardeshi |
|
IND |
| 20 |
Reshma Karthik |
|
IND |
| 21 |
Rasika Raje |
|
IND |
| |
|
|
|
| Men Doubles (MD) |
|
|
|
| 1 |
Lee Yong Dae |
RTD |
KOR |
| 2 |
Shin Baek Cheol |
RTD |
KOR |
| 3 |
Kim Sa Rang |
RTD |
KOR |
| 4 |
Boe Mathias |
2 |
DEN |
| 5 |
Chris Adcock |
XD – 5 |
ENG |
| 6 |
Lee Jhe Huei |
8 |
TPE |
| 7 |
Lee Yang |
8 |
TPE |
| 8 |
Ivanov Vladimir |
11 |
RUS |
| 9 |
Ivan Sozonov |
11 |
RUS |
| 10 |
Lu Ching Yao |
12 |
TPE |
| 11 |
Yang Po Han |
12 |
TPE |
| 12 |
Pranaav Jerry Chorpa |
XD -17 |
IND |
| 13 |
Hendra Setiawan |
25 |
INA |
| 14 |
Tan Boon Heong |
25 |
MAS |
| 15 |
Lee Chun hei Reginald |
30 |
HKG |
| 16 |
Law Cheuk Him |
30 |
HKG |
| 17 |
Tang Chun Man |
31 |
HKG |
| 18 |
OR Chin Chung |
31 |
HKG |
| 19 |
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy |
32 |
IND |
| 20 |
Chiraag Shetty |
32 |
IND |
| 21 |
Manu Atri |
33 |
IND |
| 22 |
B Sumeeth Reddy |
33 |
IND |
| 23 |
Shlok Ramanchandran |
37 |
IND |
| 24 |
M. R. Arjun |
37 |
IND |
| 25 |
Kona Tarun |
43 |
IND |
| 26 |
Alwin Francis |
43 |
IND |
| 27 |
Kim Gi Jung |
76 |
KOR |
| 28 |
Yoo Yeon Seong |
92 |
KOR |
| 29 |
Kidambi Nandagopal |
|
IND |
| 30 |
Sanyam Shukla |
|
IND |
| 31 |
Maisnam Meiraba |
|
IND |
| 32 |
Sourabh Sharma |
|
IND |
| 33 |
Arun George |
|
IND |
| 34 |
Rohan Kapoor |
|
IND |
| 35 |
Shivam Sharma |
|
IND |
| |
|
|
|
| Mixed Doubles (XD) |
|
|
|
| 1 |
Gabrielle Adcock |
5 |
ENG |
| 2 |
Christinna Pedersen |
7 |
DEN |
| 3 |
Kamilla Rytter Juhl |
WD – 4 |
DEN |
| 4 |
Lee Hyo Jung |
RTD |
KOR |
| 5 |
Gabriela Stoeva |
WD – 10 |
BUL |
| 6 |
Stefani Stoeva |
WD – 10 |
BUL |
| 7 |
Sikki Reddy |
17 |
IND |
| 8 |
Aarthi Sara Sunil |
39 |
IND |
| 9 |
Meghana Jakampudi |
43 |
IND |
| 10 |
Prajakta Sawant |
44 |
IND |
| 11 |
Poorvisha S Ram |
46 |
IND |
| 12 |
Ashwini Ponnappa |
48 |
IND |
| 13 |
K Maneesha |
65 |
IND |
| 14 |
Sanjana Santosh |
110 |
IND |
| 15 |
Kuhoo Garg |
129 |
IND |
| 16 |
Ningshi Block Hazarika |
WD – 85 |
IND |
| 17 |
Pia Zebadiah Bernadet |
|
INA |
| 18 |
Ashmita Chaliha |
|
IND |
| 19 |
Wei Ya Wen |
|
CHN |
| 20 |
Sanyongita Ghorpode |
|
IND |
| 21 |
Anoushka Parikh |
|
IND |
| 22 |
Mahima Agarwal |
|
IND |
|
