It’s Likely That the Premier Badminton League Will Return This Year or Early 2025: BAI

The Premier Badminton League, which has been dormant for the last three years due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, may resurrect by the end of this year or early in 2025, according to National Federation of Badminton League Secretary Sanjay Mishra.

According to Mishra, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) is working to find a solution to “some internal issues” that were preventing the tournament from being scheduled again.

“The badminton league is crucial for our athletes.” Unfortunately, not since the epidemic of 2020 has it been carried out. Mishra said, “There were some internal concerns as well, but they will be resolved shortly.

The organizers have been contacted and requested to respond within a month or two. Thus, I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to organize the event by the end of this year or the beginning of next year,” he said.

With talents like Olympic winners Carolina Marin and Viktor Axelsen, Tokyo Games silver medalist Tai Tzu-Ying, and former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei competing in the previous five editions, the PBL, run by SportzLive, has become one of the best badminton leagues in the world.

However, the league could not be held after the 2020 season, which was held just before the COVID-19 breakout. The BAI attempted to arrange it for December and January of 2022–2023 but it was unsuccessful.

There was a financial crisis in 2021 as a result of the second COVID-19 wave. However, a few investors are interested in helping us raise money, according to Prasad Mangipudi, co-founder of Sportzlive and PBL.

We thus aim to return by year’s end or early in the next one in one way or another.

A group of investors has shown interest in putting on the PBL. They are corresponding with BAI.

Arvind Bhat, co-owner of the Bengaluru Raptors, who have won two PBL titles, stated, “We are interested in working with BAI and Sportzlive to see if we can acquire the property. For this, we are waiting on Himanta sir (BAI head and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma) for the elections to finish.”

“We have made significant financial investments, but we haven’t yet seen any results. We think that this is a very beneficial league for the long-term development of the sport and athletes.

Over the last 15 years, over 15 leagues in sports like arm wrestling, volleyball, kho kho, hockey, football, tennis, table tennis, Kabaddi, and volleyball have been established in India; however, not all of them have been able to endure over the long haul.

One of the first leagues to emerge after the now-defunct Premier Hockey League (PHL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) was the Indian Badminton League (IBL), which was introduced in 2013 and redesigned into the Premier Badminton League in 2016 after a two-year break.

There is a lot of interest, thus BAI need to consider bringing PBL back. Take a 21-day or a month’s break from the BWF circuit, and we can do it with proper management,” said former India head coach Vimal Kumar.

“In India, we have super 750, 300, 100, and challenge events, but the badminton league offers us genuine exposure.”

“Players from abroad have been itching to visit us. It will increase our young players’ visibility. Our athletes, Satwik and Chirag, were exposed during the PBL. He clarified, “Badminton has expanded; there are now a lot more players, instructors, and sponsors in the sport.