Season 6 of PBL postponed owing to pandemic situation
The Premier Badminton League, which was ready to set foot in its sixth season, has been postponed by a year owing to the pandemic situation. The last edition was held from January 20 to February 9 across four cities earlier this year, with Bengaluru Raptors emerging as champions.
One of the top-most leagues in the world, as per the prize money offered was set to take place in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune in December 2020. But, as per SportzLive, the official license holder of the league affiliated with the Badminton Association of India (BAI), has announced that the event had been postponed by a year owing to the pandemic situation prevailing in the country.
"We have been lucky to get a window in December-January for last five years but COVID has turned life upside down. International travel is also banned till December 31 so that is also a problem. We have to think about players' safety in these times," said Prasad Mangipudi, MD, SportzLive.
The PBL is a globally acclaimed tournament, where top-flight International stars brush shoulders with local Indian stars, with six franchise-based teams competing against each other in a home-away format. The SportzLive is pretty confident that International travel restrictions would be eased by next year and the situation would be better with the introduction of vaccines, paving way for a full-fledged season.
"This year's edition would have happened in cities like Pune, Mumbai, Delhi which are most hit. Also there is Asia leg in January and then the Olympic qualifiers but we are hoping to host the event between the Olympics and the end of the last qualifying tournament in May,” added Mangipudi.