Star Sports Premier Badminton League “Season 5” kicks off in Chennai

• Sai Praneeth, Lakshya and Satwik hail PBL for providing great platform for young Indian shuttlers;
• Olympic silver medallist Christinna Pedersen calls India her second home during the official trophy unveiling

Chennai, January 18: The world’s best badminton players have descended here in Chennai as the fifth season of Star Sports Premier Badminton League is all set to be held from January 20 to February 9, 2020. Indian shuttlers B Sai Praneeth, Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were present along with Olympic silver medallist Christinna Pedersen, former World No. 9 Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk and PBL5’s youngest player 15-year-old S. Sankar Muthusamy at the official trophy unveiling here today ahead of the 21-day event that is set to be played in three venues – Chennai, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

“This league has played a major role in making badminton even more popular and has taken the sport to greater heights. We hope to play some amazing matches over the next few days here in Chennai and we hope the fans will enjoy it once again,” said defending champions Bengaluru Raptors’ Sai Praneeth, who clinched a highly-coveted World Championships bronze medal in a memorable season last year. Olympic silver medallist Christinna Pedersen will be making her comeback to the league with the Awadhe Warriors. The Danish doubles star, who has multiple World Championships medals to her name, will be making her PBL outing for the third time and is excited to return to India. 

(L to R) Shuttlers S. Sankar Muthusamy; Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk; Prasad Mangipudi, Executive Director, SportzLive; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy; B Sai Praneeth; Atul Pande, Executive Director, SportzLive; Olympic silver medallist Christinna Pedersen; Lakshya Sen

“India feels like second home. We, Danish players, always look forward to coming back to PBL, which, I believe is the world’s strongest league. All the teams this time look pretty strong and I am looking forward to playing some exciting matches in the next few days,” said the Danish shuttle queen, who has reached the pinnacle of world rankings in mixed doubles. Lakshya and Satwik, who will be part of Chennai Superstarz, believe the league will provide platform to improve their game and the much-needed exposure to young shuttlers. Doubles star Rankireddy added that PBL will also help to give a lot of match play with elite shuttlers which will be crucial with the Tokyo Olympics coming up later in the year.

(L to R) Shuttlers S. Sankar Muthusamy; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy; Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk; B Sai Praneeth; Olympic silver medallist Christinna Pedersen; Lakshya Sen

The fifth season of the PBL, which is organised by Sportzlive under the aegis of Badminton Association of India (BAI), is being headlined by world champion PV Sindhu and former World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying as five Olympic medallists and 15 World Championships medallists will look to mesmerize fans with their top skills. “With a high quality of competition, the PBL has established itself as a favourite not only among Indian players but also among foreign shuttlers who look forward to playing every year. The faith that the world’s top shuttlers has shown in the league time and again itself makes PBL a roaring success,” said Prasad Mangipudi, Executive Director, SportzLive.

Tanongsak, who has fond memories of guiding the Chennai franchise to the title in the second season, will be the men’s singles mainstay for the North Eastern Warriors for a second consecutive season. With a robust line-up, the Thai star is looking forward to a confident show from his team. Seven teams – Awadhe Warriors, Bengaluru Raptors, Mumbai Rockets, Hyderabad Hunters, Chennai Superstarz, North Eastern Warriors and Pune 7 Aces -- will slug it out for a prize of Rs 6 crore. The PBL season 5 will be telecast live on Star Sports and streamed live on Hotstar.

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