The Indian Badminton League is on its way!

The inaugural Indian Badminton League is likely to take off in February 2013. Modelled on the lines of the IPL, the badminton league is likely to see some of the world’s biggest stars in action inIndia.

The league might see between six and eight teams in home and away encounters. The format will consist of two men’s singles matches, and one WS, MD and WD each. There will be no mixed doubles. The announcement was made on the sidelines of the National Badminton Championships atSrinagar.

Announcing this at a press conference, Akhilesh Das Gupta, president of Badminton Association of India, said: “We are ready for the IBL. The official announcement will be done in the last week of October in Mumbai along with the commercial partners.”

“The IBL format will be on the lines of the Indian Premier League. We will outsource the event. The agency which will run the event has already been finalized,” said Gupta. “The prize-money will be around Rs. 1 crore. Once the modalities are worked out, the BAI will make an announcement in the last week of this month. The announcement was delayed because we had to take the permission of Badminton World Federation (BWF) since all the leading players will compete in the tournament. We now have the permission for seven years from the world governing body. All the top players of the world will participate in the IBL.”