Premier Badminton League sixth edition postponed to 2021

Premier Badminton League sixth edition postponed to 2021
PBL players
PBL players

On Friday, the sixth edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) was postponed to next year. The decision was taken keeping in mind the health and safety of the players during the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

The league is one of the highest prize money badminton tournaments in the world. It was initially scheduled to take place in the last week of December in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. However, SportzLive the official license holder of the league under the aegis of Badminton Association of India (BAI) decided to postpone the event due to prevailing conditions.

“The decision to postpone the Season 6 was taken by SportzLive — the official license holder of the league under the aegis of the national sports federation — in consultation with Badminton Association of India (BAI) owing to international travel restrictions which are still in place as per issued guidelines. Also, the safety of all players and stakeholders involved is of prime concern. However, with the sporting world gradually returning on track, the organisers are keen to roll out the season next year,” the organisers said in a statement.

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Badminton Premier League to begin early next year

2019-2020 PBL winners
2019-2020 PBL winners

Fresh dates are being worked in for early next year for Badminton Premier League. The tournament has witnessed the participation of top-10 players with solid on-court action since the last 5 years. “We have been lucky to get a window in December-January for last five years but COVID has turned life upside down. International travel is also banned till December 31 so that is also a problem. We have to think about players safety in these times,” Prasad Mangipudi, MD, SportzLive, said.

“With the cases on the rise again and the second wave hitting the country, it is pertinent that we adhere to the COVID-19 advisory issued by the Health Ministry. However, with the recent announcement of the vaccine, we are optimistic that the economy shall improve and things shall return to normalcy including international travel soon. The league meanwhile plans to introduce grassroots as well as other badminton activities in order to bring back the badminton actions ahead of the next season,” Mangipudi was quoted as saying by ANI.

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