The third season of the Premier Badminton League starts this weekend in Guwahati with most of the biggest names from the world of badminton taking part.
Chennai Smashers will take on Saina Nehwal’s Awadhe Warriors in the opening tie on 23 December with Lee Yan of Smashers already laying down the challenge, “We go into the league as the defending champions and we are quite confident of repeating our last year’s performance.”
Yan will, however, be aware that the Saina’s Warriors have been the most consistent squad in the PBL. Saina herself is counting on that to begin her team’s campaign on a high note. “We have made it to the knockout stages of all the editions so far. It was nothing but bad luck that prevented us from winning the trophy,” she pointed out.
The Vodafone Premier Badminton League is held under the aegis of the Badminton Association of India. Indian national coach Pullela Gopichand shared his thoughts on the new aspects of the league this season:
The top players from the world, from both the men’s and women’s rankings, are taking part in the PBL season. This year really is a star-studded line-up, isn’t it?
It’s fantastic the kind of players who are coming in. We will see some real rivalries – from Carolina vs Sindhu, Saina vs Sindhu. Tai (world no 1) will also join in, and there’s Sung hi Hyun (world no 5) who will make the women’s event quite exciting. Then you have Viktor and Srikanth and Son Wan Ho who will bring in good level of competition there. There will also be Prannoy vs Kashyap, Prannoy vs Srikanth. I think it is going to be an amazing event. Apart from them, some of our doubles players have started doing well on the international level. It is good to showcase our top players against the best in the world.
The two new teams this season in the league make it an eight-team event. PBL really is taking the ‘bigger and better’ tag seriously, isn’t it?
We have Ahmedabad and North-East come in as two new teams. It will give Indian players an opportunity to participate more in the league. New fans and new cities will bring in new viewers. And that is very exciting. As a sport, badminton is played across the country. Respecting the same, two more new teams is a good decision.
Watch the interview above to find out what else the PBL is showcasing this season.
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