Badminton is the next in line for some big money with Indian Badminton league set have an auction on Monday. As expected, home stars Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap, along with some international stars such as lee Chong Wei, would be the top draws in the US$ one million auction.
Six players have been earmarked icon players with world number one Chong Wei the only international shuttler among them in the list that includes Nehwal, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, PV Sindhu and Kashyap. Each of these players would attract a base price of USD 50,000. Other notable shuttlers in the list of top 30 available for the auction include Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana and Hu Yun of Hong Kong who also have a base price of USD 50,000. Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, Kenichi Tago of Japan and Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen, who will be available at a base price of USD 25,000, are the other current players who are in the top-10 in men's world rankings. The list also includes former world and Olympic champion Taufiq Hidayat for a base price of USD 15,000. Hidayat recently retired from the international circuit. The base price of RMV Gurusaidutt has been kept at USD 25,000 while for Ajay Jayaram's bidding will start at the price of USD 30,000.
In the women's category, German star Juliane Schenk and Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon will have a base price of USD 50000. Another Thai player Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (USD 20,000), Denmark's Tine Baun (USD 30,000), lindaweni Fanetri (USD 15,000) of Indonesia would be the other attractions in the auction that will be conducted by renowned london-based auctioneer Bob Hayton. Gutta and Ponnappa will be participating in the doubles category of the event. The franchises will also be bidding for lesser known Indian stars though they would be given the lost of these players during the auction. The IBl will be held between August 14 and 31. Six city-based teams — Hyderabad, Pune, lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore — will be part of the league. Several top players from the world are expected to be part of the league which will be held in the Sudirman Cup format.
Though China will hold their national championships during IBl season, two shuttlers — Bao Chunlai in singles and Zheng Bo in doubles — will be available at the auction. "The auction signals the start of the first season of what we hope will mark a phenomenal beginning for Indian badminton. The 2013 edition of the IBl will feature six teams and it will be interesting to see how the Franchises go about bolstering their respective line-ups prior to the IBl," IBl Chairman Akhilesh Das Gupta said. The opening match of the IBl will take place on August 14 here. "Some of the biggest promoters of sports will be bidding for the finest players in the world and we hope the IBl auction will usher in a dynamic makeover for Indian badminton," said Ashish Chadha, CEO Sporty Solutionz, the Commercial Partner for IBl.