Premier Badminton League: 10 interesting things you need to know!

New Delhi: The Premier Badminton League is all set to kick off on Saturday and the tourney will hope that its second coming fares well and kicks on with some fervour.

The competition was earlier named Indian Badminton League (IBL) which came to life in August 2013. Despite a moderate response, the league languished in the sideines battling existential issues.

But good news comes for fans as putting the problems aside, the second edition, named PBL is set to kick off from January 2, 2016.

Here are some of the things you need to know about the Premier Badminton League.

1) The league comprises of six teams with players representing from Asia and Europe besides India.

2) The six teams are Delhi Aces, Hyderabad Hunters, Mumbai Rockets, Awadhe Warriors, Bengaluru Topguns and Chennai Smashers.

3) Hyderabad won the league in 2013 led by Saina Nehwal. The franchise name was Hyderabad Hotshots.

4) The semifinals of this edition are scheduled for January 14 and 15 respectively. The grand finale will be played in Delhi on January 17.

5) Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar is the brand ambassador of the PBL.

6) Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu will represent Awadhe Warriors and Chennai Smashers respectively.

7) Introduction of a new feature called “Trump Match” will be seen this time. The feature allows coaches and players to gain a bonus point with some risk taking. A loss could inflict a negative point.

8) Trump Match will be decided 90 minutes prior to the start of the tie.

9) There will be five ties in each match.

10) Matches will be best-of-three across 15 points.

Saturday sees Mumbai Rockets taking on Awadhe Warriors.