Top Indian badminton stars in attendance as Grand Prix Badminton League launched in Bengaluru

The Grand Prix Badminton League will take place in Karnatka from 1st to 10th July. World No. 1 Kidami Srikanth, two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu, Ashwini Ponappa, Chirag Shetty, B. Sai Praneeth, and Sawiksairaj Reddy are set to act as mentors for eight franchisees set to compete in the inaugural edition of the Grand Prix Badminton League.

The tournament will see eight teams competing to win the inaugural edition. Each team will consist of ten members. Five from Karnatka, two will be foreign players and a minimum of three female badminton players. The eight teams that will be competing in the tournament and their mentors are:

• Bengaluru Lions: PV Sindhu
• Mangalore Sharks: Kidambi Srikanth
• Mandya Bulls: Chirag Shetty
• Mysore Panthers: Satwik Rankireddy
• Malnad Falcons: Sai Parneeth
• Bandipur Tuskers: Jwala Gupta
• KGF Wolves: HS Prannoy
• Kodava Tigers: Ashwini Ponnappa

More than 400 players have signed up for the auction slated to take place next week.

Prize Money

The Grand Prix Badminton League will have total prize money of INR 60,00,000. The winners will be awarded INR 24,00,000, while the runners up will receive INR 12,00,000. The semi-finalists will pocket INR 6,00,000 each while the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place teams will get INR 4,00,000, 3,00,000, 2,00,000 and 1,00,000 respectively.

The co-owner of Bengaluru Lions, P.V. Sindhu, expressed her excitement to be a part of the Grand Prix Badminton League. She said, "We all know what these kinds of leagues have done to games other than cricket. I think this is a platform to unearth talent while taking the game to the masses. I am super thrilled to be a part of GPBL.

The League Commissioner and CEO of Bitsport, Prashanth Reddy, said, "After co-owning a team in the Premier Badminton League and seeing the game's potential, we thought about introducing a unique league. Also, it has been two years since the last edition of PBL, and hence we wanted to keep the momentum going.

Format of the game

The League will be played with a Robin Round format where each team will face every other team. the top four teams will advance to the elimination round.

The match will start with two singles players competing for the first seven points, followed by a doubles match for the following seven points and then triples for the last seven points.