Badminton
PBL 2020: Full list of teams and players
After a long and excruciating wait for the Indian fans, the fifth season of Premier Badminton League (PBL) is slated to kick off on January 20 with the Indian shuttlers set to compete against their global counterparts over the course of 21 days. With several hundred million eyeballs watching on them, it is time for yet another exciting dose of badminton showdown ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
The event will witness a total of 24 ties being played, including three doubleheaders, all of which are set to take place in Hyderabad. With one of the doubleheaders being scheduled in the weekend on February 1 that will see Pune 7 Aces take on North East Warriors and Awadhe Warriors clash with Chennai Superstarz, lots of thrilling matches are in store for badminton aficionados.
As the PBL returns to Chennai after two years, badminton lovers in the city would be blessed to watch Tai’s wizardry when the Raptors square off against the North East Warriors on January 21. With Chennai Superstarz and Bengaluru Raptors meeting in the same leg, it would be interesting to see Lakshya Sen and Sai Praneeth going head to head after their fabulous results last year. However, shouldering Indian hopes at the big-ticket event, P V Sindhu will be determined to step up to the occasion to prove their mettle ahead of the Olympics.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games Champion Parupalli Kashyap will be leading the charge of two-time runners-up Mumbai Rockets when they lock horns with Sai Praneeth’s Bengaluru Raptors in Hyderabad on February 2, enabling fans to see an exhilarating match between two of India’s best men’s singles shuttlers. Two of the biggest badminton stars of India, Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal will not be a part of the league this year after they decided to rest to prepare for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
Also read: PBL 2020: Preview, Full Schedule, Telecast and Live Streaming
The Chinese Taipei ace, Tai Tzu Ying will be spearheading the challenge of the defending champions, after she became the most expensive non-retained player at the auction snapped by Bengaluru Raptors for 77 lakh.
Full List Of Teams And Players
Mumbai Rockets
Men's Singles: Parupalli Kashyap (India), Lee Dong Keun (Korea), Shreyansh Jaiswal (India) -
Women's Singles: Shriyanshi Pardeshi (India), Men's Doubles Kim Gi Jung (Korea), Kim Sa Rang (Korea), Pranav Jerry Chopra (India), Shlok Ramachandran (India)
Women's Mixed Doubles: Pia Zebadiah (Indonesia), Jessica Pugh (England)
Hyderabad Hunters
Men's Singles: Sourabh Verma (India), Daren Liew (Malaysia), Kiran George (India)
Women's Singles: PV Sindhu (India), Ruthvika Shivani Gade (India)
Men's Doubles: Vladimir Ivanov (Russia), Ben Lane (England), Sean Vendy (England)
Women's Mixed Doubles: Sikky N Reddy (India)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Awadhe Warriors
Men's Singles: Subhankar Dey (India), Ajay Jayaram (India), Wong Wing Ki Vincent (Hong Kong)
Women's Singles: Beiwen Zhang (USA), Tanvi Lad (India)
Men's Doubles: Shin Baek Cheol (Korea), Ko Sung Hyun (Korea), Ivan Sozonov (Korea)
Women's Mixed Doubles: Christinna Pedersen (Denmark)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Bengaluru Raptors
Men's Singles: B Sai Praneeth (India), Brice Leverdez (France), Ansal Yadav (India)
Women's Singles: Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei), Medha Shashidharan (India)
Men's Doubles: Tak Ching Chang (Hong Kong), Chan Peng Soon (Malaysia), Arun George (India)
Women's Mixed Doubles: Eom Hye Won (Korea)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Chennai Superstarz
Men's Singles: Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia), S Sankar Muthusamy (India), Lakshya Sen (India), K Sathish Kumar (India)
Women's Singles: Gayatri Gopichand (India), Kristy Gilmour (Scotland)
Men's Doubles: Sumeeth B Reddy (India), Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy (India), Manu Attri (India)
Women's Mixed Doubles: Sanjana Santosh (India), Gabrielle Adcock (England)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
North Eastern Warriors
Men's Singles: Saensomboonsuk Tanongsak (Thailand), Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hong Kong), Kaushal Dharmamer (India)
Women's Singles: Ashmita Chaliha (India), Michelle Li (Canada),
Men's Doubles: Lee Yong Dae (Korea), Krishna Prasad Garaga (India), Bodin Isara (Thailand)
Women's Mixed Doubles: Kim Ha Na (Korea), Rutuparna Panda (India)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Pune 7 Aces
Men's Singles: Mithun Manjunath (India), Loh Kean Yew (Singapur), Kazumasa Sakai (Japan)
Women's Singles: Thi Trang Vu (Vietnam), Rituparna Das (India)
Men's Doubles: Chirag Shetty (India), Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia), Chris Adcock (England), MR Arjun (India)
Women's Mixed Doubles: Tse Ting Suet (Hong Kong), Kuhoo Garg (India)