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IBL is the new ray of hope for Badminton Sport

IBL is the new ray of hope for Badminton Sport. It looks like badminton is soon going to catch up with cricket in popularity. And that’s the reason why Indian Badminton League (IBL), a close cousin of the IPL was announced sometime back. Indian Badminton League is a joint initiative of Badminton Association of India and Sporty Solutionz Pvt. Ltd. IBL claims to have the biggest prize money purse of USD 1 million.
The IBL had its star studded auction of players at the capital city’s up market Shangri La hotel. The event saw some of the big corporates making a beeline for some of the most sought after badminton talent around the world.
It is said that, India’s entertainment economy thrives on two things: cricket and movies. But not everyone can afford to spend the entire day at ODIs. Hence, the lively action from cricket and the duration of a movie gave way to twenty-twenty cricket.
However, on the other hand entertainment is not the only thing that IBL is looking to provide. Their bigger motive is to promote the game of badminton in India. Even though it is one of the followed games in the country, yet not the most followed one. And no one is to be blamed for this. It is bound to happen in a country where cricket is the most played, viewed and followed sport. From the time a child starts playing or watching TV, all he is exposed to is cricket. Gully Cricket sounds familiar, but does Gully Badminton?
IBL aims to change this very mindset and divert the attention of our country’s citizens towards this sport which till date lacks its due recognition.
And it is not only the facts that say this. Our very own Chief Coach, Vimal Kumar also confesses that even though the times have changed from when he used to play, the sport wasn’t promoted that well here.
The path-breaking $ 1 million Indian Badminton League will have five matches in every round: men and women’s singles and doubles category (men’s, women’s and mixed). Each team will play 18 ties of best of 5 matches to a maximum of 140 matches played over three weeks between 66 players representing 6 different cities as teams.
And if that’s not enough, here are some more reasons why it looks like a great launch pad for the sport: