The Indian Badminton League (IBL), a franchise league, commercially managed by Badminton Association of India (BAI), will be held after June as the organisers are not finding a clear 20 days for the staging of the event for the second time, according to T.P.S. Puri, vice president (administration), BAI, here on Monday.
He said that the earlier plans to hold the league in April appeared not possible as players would be busy preparing for the prestigious Sudirman Cup after taking part in two back-to-back fixtures — the All England championship and the Swiss Open in March.
“Though players and franchises are keen to play, we are looking for a window. Most probably we may stage the event after June,” he pointed out.
He the IBL Governing Council should take into consideration the availability of players’ world over before finalising the schedule. He said the league will see new players entering the fray and a good many players may play for the existing franchisees as they were contracted for two years.
“The format would remain the same. Depending on the wishes of the sponsor and the franchisees we will initiate the changes.”
Reacting to Andhra Pradesh Badminton Association’s (APBA) decision to take legal action against shuttlers, who skipped the 79th senior National championship at Vijayawada, he said he would pursue APBA not to proceed.
“Even though APBA wished to move the court, it has to go through BAI. We should emphasise to the players as they need to train hard to maintain their peak form.”
He said a good number of Indian shuttlers were occupying top slots in the world ranking lists and that was possible as they play around 15 to 16 tournaments in a year. “They need to train hard to sustain the challenge. I think BAI should have a liberal view by permitting the elite players to train,” he said.
