Rio Olympics champion Carolina emerges as the costliest buy at Premier Badminton League players' auction even as Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu are sold for Rs 39 and Rs 33 lakh respectively
Spanish seed Carolina Marin. Pic/Getty Images
Spanish seed Carolina Marin. Pic/Getty Images
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New Delhi: Rio Games silver medallist PV Sindhu and London bronze winner Saina Nehwal went for low prices even as current Olympic champion Carolina Marin emerged as the costliest buy at the players' auction of the second edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) yesterday.
Two-time World Champion Marin was bagged by Hyderabad Hunters for R61.5 lakhs, while male shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, who had reached the quarter-finals at Rio Olympics, fetched the highest amount by an Indian, when he was purchased for Rs 51 lakhs by the Awadhe Warriors. Sindhu was unlucky to fetch an amount of just R39 lakhs despite being the best Indian iconic player after her performance at the Rio Olympics. "In the draw of lots my name came out last so I got less but it is okay. I am just happy to be back with Chennai. After all, no one will think about the money but will remember how Indian badminton is growing and that is what matters," said Sindhu, who was fetched by Chennai after outbidding Hyderabad by Rs 50,000.
Saina was retained by her previous franchise Awadhe Warriors for the base price of Rs 33 lakhs. South Korean woman shuttler Sung Ji Hyun emerged as the second costliest player as she went to Mumbai Rockets for Rs 60 lakhs, while Denmark's Jan O'Jorgensen fetched Rs 59 lakhs from defending champions Delhi Acers after a three-way battle between the Acers, the Rockets and the Blasters. Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, the Olympic bronze medallist, was bought for a price of Rs 39 lakhs by Bengaluru Blasters, while Wan Ho Son and experienced doubles specialist Yoo Yeon Seong too went for the same price by Delhi and Bengaluru franchise respectively.
A total of 15 iconic players went under the hammer and 12 of them were fetched by the six franchises. Among them, the Hunters landed Wee Kiong Tan of Malaysia for Rs 33 lakhs and the Rockets bought Korea's star Lee Young Dae for R37.5 lakhs. The Chennai side bought Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia for R26 lakhs while V Shem Goh of Malaysia (Rs 33 lakhs) went to Lucknow. Among other top Indian names, HS Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram were bought by Mumbai Rockets for Rs 22 lakhs and 19 lakhs respectively, B Sai Praneeth was taken by Hyderabad for Rs 21 lakhs and Chinese Taipei champion Sourabh Varma was fetched for 13 lakhs by Bangaluru. Doubles specialists Jwala Gutta was bought for Rs 10 lakhs by Delhi, while Ashwini Ponnappa was roped in by the Blasters after using the right to match, following a bid by Delhi for the same amount.
Fifty out of the 154 players, who went under the hammer yesterday, were acquired by the six teams in fray, shelling out their kitty of Rs 1.93 crore each. The base price for the highest bracketed players, the icons, was Rs 33 lakh while the next best were earmarked at Rs 17 lakh. Each team could acquire a maximum of 10 players, including six foreigners. The league will be played from January 1-14 next year in a round-robin format, with each team clashing against each other once. The winners of the League will take home Rs 3 crore while the runners-up will receive Rs 1.5 crore. The losing semifinalists will get richer by Rs 75 lakh each.
Rs 3 crore
Amount winners will take home while the runners-up will receive Rs 1.5 crore
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