CHENNAI: Here we go again. On August 16, the organisers of the Pro Badminton League (PBL) unveiled the third edition of the league. It was going to be bigger and better. More teams had entered the fray and the broadcasters, because of it, extended the duration by more than a week.
“It would run for close to a month,” one of the officials had said then. “The venues (all four were already identified) and the dates would be announced soon,” another said. “Chennai would host the semifinals and final,” another gushed.
With just about a month to go, organisers are yet to release the fixtures. If sources are to believed, Chennai hosting the final may be one of the reasons. Or a tweaking or two need to be done to the venues before announcing the fixture list.
It was announced earlier, Chennai would be hosting the semifinals and final. But now it is not certain. At least the final.
The city was in line to host the business end of the tournament because of their status as defending champions but Hyderabad, it is learnt, may host it now. Chennai might have to make do with just semifinals.
This will come as a blow to the Chennai outfit who had apparently secured the JN indoor stadium for both the semifinals and finals. The Badminton Association of India may provide more clarity on the matter within the next week. The other cities likely to get a taste of PBL action this year are New Delhi, Guwahati and Lucknow
Doubts were raised about the possibility of a change of venue as the schedule was yet to be finalised. There is only a working draft according to a team owner. If the source is to be believed, last minute changes are still going on. Guwahati is now slated to inaugurate the third season.
Interestingly, that wasn’t what was announced at the launch in Chennai in August. There, the organisers had informed that four of the venues would host matches this year, with the other four getting to host the fourth edition in end 2018.