New Delhi: Star players Saina Nehwal and Lee Chong Wei fetched whopping prices of $120,000 and $135,000 respectively, while unheralded Pradnya Gadre and K Maneesha received unexpected high bids in the players’ auction of the Indian Badminton League here on Monday.
The London Olympic bronze medallist Saina was bought by Hyderabad Hotshots for approximately Rs 71,27,796 after beating the bids of Lucknow Warriors and Pune Pistons in the auction where over 150 players went under the hammer for 66 slots to fill six teams.
Each team will have six Indians, four foreigners and one Indian junior each.
World number one Lee Chong Wei, however, bagged the costliest deal when he was bought by Mumbai Masters for approximately Rs 80,19,032. The Mumbai franchise beat the bids of Banga Beats and Krrish Delhi Smashers.
Saina, one of the six icon players with base price of USD 50,000 (Rs 29,86,264), had stated that she would prefer to be either in Hyderabad or Lucknow.
“I am very happy to be with my home team. I always wanted to be with either Hyderabad or Lucknow but eventually I was bought by Hyderabad and it is a great news. I hope I can help my team to do well in the IBL,” Saina said after the auction.
Parupalli Kashyap, also an icon player, was picked up by Banga Beats for USD 75,000 (Rs 4,455,622), while rising star PV Sindhu was the big buy netted by Lucknow Warriors for USD 80,000 (Rs 4,752,664).
Commonwealth Games women’s doubles champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa went to Delhi Smashers at USD 31,000 (Rs 18,51,520) and USD 25,000 (14,93,125) after their base price was reduced from USD 50,000 to USD 25,000 following a meeting of all the franchises at the last moment. (PTI)
