Premier Badminton League – India’s Badminton Showcase

The official HSBC World Tour Tournaments have come to an end for 2018, with the HSBC World Tour Finals finishing in the usual high-octane fashion that we’ve come to expect from the world’s top players.  The World Tour resumes in January with the Thailand Masters Super 300 Event.

If you can’t wait that long, the Premier Badminton League, (sponsored by Vodafone) is a great filler between the World Tour Tournaments. Badminton in India has exploded in popularity in recent years. The successful exploits of Saina Newhal, PV Sindu and Kidambi Srikanth have all contributed to this.

Brief Overview

Started in 2013 and held in India, we’re now in the fourth season of the Badminton Premier League. It has grown significantly over the last three years. Nine teams, consist of the rising stars of Indian badminton and prominent international players from all over the world.

Each team is a franchise from their respective city. An auction process takes place earlier in the year, in which each franchise bids for their players of their choice. The more accomplished the player, the higher the bid. The lineup for each team can be found on the Premier Badminton League website.

Some rules are different to that of the World Tour rules. Games are played to 15 not 21 for example. There is no setting, so at 14-14, the next point wins. I am not sure why this is the rule in the Premier Badminton League. Perhaps it is a timing issue to try to manipulate the length of the match to adhere to the match schedule. Other rules can be found here.

Why Should You Watch The Premier Badminton League?

1. Personality of the players. Because it’s a team event, and outside of the normal tournament calendar, the players seem a lot more relaxed and let themselves go a little. Whether it’s playing up to the camera or playing more creatively on court. It’s nice to see this as the tournaments perhaps have more pressure than this team event.

2. Different Combinations. Due to the auction process, you get a variety of players, some of whom may have been separated from their usual doubles partners. In these situations you get a variety of partnerships you would not otherwise see outside of the PBL. It’s always interesting to see if a scrap partnership of two elite players who are very strong on paper, can take on an established partnership. There’s also players who will be playing disciplines which they do not usually play on the world tour.

3. Return of retired players. There’s often a number of players who have retired that sign up to be part of this league. Previous seasons have included former Olympic champion Marcus Kido. While this season, Kim Sa Rang of Korea and Chai Biao of China will be present.

4. Side Court Interviews. During intervals, there’s often brief interviews with a franchise representative or sometimes with a player. These are quite interesting and give a little insight into the tactics for each match up and how the team is bonding off court.

5. Team Event. There’s very few team events throughout the year. Team events have a different feel about them because the players are representing the whole team. Not just themselves. The atmosphere provided by the teammates as well as the home crowd make it an exciting watch.

6. Helps to promote the sport. If nothing else, events such as these really help to promote the sport of badminton. Particularly with such a large sponsorship deal with Vodafone. Although our sport is one of the most participated in sports globally, its professional status seems to lag behind its popularity. It’s important we all support any events which tries to bring professional badminton to a global audience.

Where Can I Watch It?

According to Wikipedia the following broadcasters currently hold the rights for their respective country.

Unfortunately I’m not aware currently of any intention to live stream the fixtures through YouTube. This would obviously be ideal for the global audience.

It’s also fairly difficult to find many matches from the previous seasons as the official PBL YouTube Channel doesn’t seem to have uploaded many videos at all of matches from previous seasons.  I suspect this is to do with broadcasting rights. YouTube is probably quite a big competitor for traditional broadcasters. It wouldn’t surprise me in that case, if it was contracted that they couldn’t live stream on YouTube.

Give It A Go

Don’t be put off by unfamiliar names, these players are the future of Indian badminton and watching them go head to head with some of the elite players proves they’re not too far away from the world stage. The format is slightly different from what you will be used to. but once you get into it, the fixtures they are actually pretty exciting. Given the rate of growth over the past three seasons, it’s only going to get bigger and better.

The PBL will run from 22nd December 2018 to 13th Jan 2019.

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