Sindhu, Marin and Axelsen expected to be top draws at badminton auction

HYDERABAD: World champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and world number one Chinese Taipei shuttler Tai Tzu Ying will be up for grabs when the high-profile Players’ Auction for the lucrative Premier Badminton League (PBL) gets underway here on Monday.

Axelsen, the newly-crowned World No. 1 after he clinched his maiden World Championship gold at Glasgow, and reigning All England champion Tai Tzu, who also won titles at Malaysia, Singapore, have confirmed their participation at the PBL, to be organised by Sportzlive under the aegis of Badminton Association of India (BAI).

Rio Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain and India’s World No 2 P V Sindhu, World Championship bronze medallist, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth are expected to be the top draws during the auction, which allows each franchise to spend ~2.12 crore on their team.

A total of 133 players will go under the hammer.

As many as 10 Olympic medallists (including 3 multiple medal winners) and eight medallists from the recently-concluded World Championships have confirmed their presence for the ~6 crore League, which gets under way in December.

Interestingly, China will also be well represented this time, with their World No 11 men’s singles player Tian Houwei putting his hat in the ring.

PBL 3 will be a strong eightteam league, with the addition of two more franchises. It will begin on December 22 and conclude on January 14 and will take place at Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chennai and Guwahati.