A three day Corporate Badminton League (CBL) will start from November 4 at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA) in Hyderabad.
The national inter-corporate league is one of its kind in India. The CBL 2016 is co-hosted by Hyderabad’s IT and digital marketing provider CDK Global and renowned PGBA.
As many as 500 badminton players from more than 200 corporate houses are likely to participate in the indoor league, according the organizers.
Following badminton champion PV Sindhu’s remarkable victory at Olympics, the organizers are hopeful of more participation of women. They even appealed working women to take part in the tournament.
The tournament, which has a knock-out format of the best of 3 Sets (Singles and Doubles), features men’s and women’s singles, doubles, and mixed doubles championships.
Winners will receive Rs. 25,000 with runners up getting Rs 12,500 in cash prizes along with the coveted Pullela Gopichand Trophy. Interested persons can register online at Mera Events.
Speaking about the league, Sikhara Events director Sirisha Sripada praised Gopichand for putting Hyderabad on the map as India’s badminton capital.
“With his back up and support, CBL started in the year 2013… We had 73 Companies participating in the first year, 107 companies in the second year, but last year we had record registrations of over 450 players from 150 companies.
“Taking inspiration from P.V. Sindhu, we expect more women participation this year. We would also like to see more startups taking center stage at the event,” informed Sripada.