PBL Auction LIVE: HS Prannoy Most Expensive Player at Rs 62 Lakh

India’s second-highest ranked men’s singles player has now become the Premier Badminton League’s most expensive star!

2017 has seen the 25-year-old HS Prannoy really come into his own on the circuit after he won the U.S Open Grand Prix Gold and reached the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open Super Series and the Japan open Super Series.

He becomes the most expensive player in the league after Kidambi Srikanth’s previous team Awadhe Warriors didn't let him enter the auction process and instead picked him for Rs 56,10,000. Till Prannoy went under the hammer, Srikanth had been the biggest buy.

China’s Tian Houwei is the biggest foreign sale so far, going to Delhi Acers for Rs 58 lakh.

A series of injuries last season has seen 31-year-old Parupalli Kashyap on the comeback trail this year and he will join Awadhe Warriors with Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth for Rs 20 lakh. His one notable performance this year has been a runner-up finish at the U.S Open Grand Prix Gold.

Another singles specialist, Ajay Jayaram, currently ranked 20th in the world, has been picked up by North Eastern Warriors for Rs 44 lakh. Ajay’s exploits this season include quarter-final appearances at the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold and the Malaysia Open Super Series event.

2017 Indian Open Grand Prix Gold champion Sameer Verma has joined Mumbai Rockets for Rs 52 lakh.

Sai Praneeth was picked up by Bengaluru Blasters but Hyderabad Hunters used their “Right to Match” and retained him for Rs 40 lakh.

Among the players to have gone under the hammer so far, 25-year-old Tian Houwei has become the biggest buy of the 2018 Premier Badminton League.

Picked up by the Delhi Acers for Rs 58 lakh, the Chinese shuttler is the winner of the 2017 China Masters and the 2016 All England Championships silver medallist.

He will also be making his debut in the league this season.

World Number 11 Beiwen Zhang has joined Mumbai Rockets for Rs 33 lakh for her debut season in the league

South Korea's 28-year-old doubles specialist Shin Baek Cheoul has become the biggest buy of the auction so far (since Srikanth never really went under the hammer today).

A 2016 India Open bronze medalist and the 2016 German Open Grand Prix champion, Shin Baek beats the earlier high price of Rs 52 lakh set by current men’s singles world number one Viktor Axelsen.

This is clearly the trend of the day - spend big on doubles players!

30-year-old Yoo Yeon Seong who’s ranked 92 in the world gets picked up by Hyderabad Hunters for Rs 53 lakh.

Seven players were retained (including Srikanth who Awadhe Warriors used the Right to Match card for) at the start of the auction. But what does that mean for their bank accounts? How much money do “retained players” make? Well, not much.

Organisers confirm to The Quint that each retained player will only get a 25 per cent bump in their salary from last year. Meaning, PV Sindhu, who was sold for just Rs 39 lakh last season, will now be making 48,75,000 this year. Saina Nehwal will get Rs 8,25,000 more than last season and now makes Rs 41,25,000.

Kidambi Srikanth who returns to the Awadhe Warriors, courtesy their strategic use of the “right to match” card however doesn't get the 25 percent bump. “Right to match” bought players only get a 10 percent raise from their last year’s auction price. From his Rs 51,00,000 last season, Srikanth, the top ranked Indian male player will now make Rs 56,10,000 this year.

Rio Olympics silver medalist in doubles Christinna Pedersen is the most expensive doubles player bought in the auction so far. She’s been picked up by Awadhe Warriors for Rs 42 lakh. Her regular partner Kamilla Rytter though has been bought by Ahmedabad Smash Masters.

Unsold in the first round, world number 3 Sung Ji Hyun has been picked up by Delhi Acers for Rs 50 lakh.

Doubles speciallist Ashwin Ponnappa will now play for Delhi Acers this season. She picked up a high bid of Rs 20 lakh.

9 players were given the “icon status” before the auction with a team being allowed to acquire no more than two and no less than one star from the list for the coming season. Here’s how the players fared:

1. Men’s world number 1 Viktor Axelsen - 50 lakh (Bengaluru Blasters)
2. Women’s world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying - 52 lakh (Ahmedabad Smash Masters)
3. Men’s world number 2 Son Wan Ho - 50 lakh (Mumbai Rockets)
4. Women’s world number 2 PV Sindhu - Retained (Chennai Smashers)
5. Women’s world number 3 Sung Ji Hyun - Unsold
6. Women’s world number 4 Carolina Marin - Rs 50 lakh (Hyderabad Hunters)
7. Men’s world number 8 Kidambi Srikanth - Retained
8. Men’s world number 10 Wang Tzu Wei - 52 lakh (North Eastern Warriors)
9. Women’s world number 12 Saina Nehwal - Retained

Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, the current world number one and World Champion, has been bought by his old team Bengaluru Blasters for Rs 50 lakh.

Men’s world number 2 Two Son Wan Ho also has been bought for Rs 50 lakh by the Delhi Acers.

This now closes the list of “icon players” and the auction moves to doubles specialists.

Women’s world number 3 Sung Ji Hyun has gone unsold. A silver medallist from the 2017 Indonesia Open Premier Super Series and a bronze medallist from this year’s All England Championships ad Malaysia Open Premier Super Series, the Korean found no takers, at least in the first round.

One of the nine “icon players” she will return to the pool and will be auctioned again in the next round.

First player to go under the hammer is the current women’s world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying. One of the 9 icon players, the 23-year-old winner of the 2017 Asian Championships and Malaysia Open Premier Super Series has been bought by Ahmedabad Smash Masters for Rs 52 lakh.

Chinese Taipei’s World number 10 Tzu Wei Wang has been picked up by the North Eastern Warriors for Rs 52 lakh.

Spanish star and the Rio Olympics gold medalist Carolina Marin has been bought by the team team she played for last season, the Hyderabad Hunters who shelled out Rs 50 lakh for her.

Only jokes from me right now. Because, well, two hours and 46 minutes since this blog was supposed to start cracking, we haven’t had a single sale.

But lookie! BAI officials make an appearance... should mean good things.

PV Sindhu, Sikki Reddy, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwik Sairaj, Lee Young Dae and Vladimir Ivanov have all been retained by their old teams and will not be part of the auction.

This also effectively rules out 3 of the 9 “icon players” from the auction that is... coming up shortly I’d say. But I’ve been wrong.

Looks like the show is finally on the road! Pullela Gopichand has taken the stage to explain the rules to the 8 team owners

• Each of the teams will need to build a team of 11 players
• A maximum of 5 foreign players can be bought by each team and a minimum of 3 women players are a must.
• Out of the 9 icon players, one team can buy a maximum of 2 and a minimum of 1.
• Each team must have one player from the U-17 category.
• Teams need to spend a minimum of Rs 2.12 crore and a maximum of Rs 2.4 crore.

11 am is what we were told would be the start of the auction but things seem only to be spiralling. The latest update is that the start has been postponed to post lunch. Fans waiting for updates on social media, clearly aren't very happy.

Technical snag in the proceedings had delayed the auction by almost an hour already. Scheduled to start at 11am, the organisers have announced that their proposed Live stream of the auction too has been cancelled.

We will update you as soon as we hear from the PBL organisers.

While 133 players will go under the hammer, 9 players have been listed as “icon players” for the auction in Hyderabad.

1. Men’s world number 1 Viktor Axelsen
2. Women’s world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying
3. Men’s world number 2 Son Wan Ho
4. Women’s world number 2 PV Sindhu
5. Men’s world number 3 Sung Ji Hyun
6. Women’s world number 4 Carolina Marine
7. Men’s world number 8 Kidambi Srikanth
8. Men’s world number 10 Wang Tzu Wei
9. Women’s world number 12 Saina Nehwal

All the available players will go through the auction process, with six previous teams allowed to invoke their ‘Right to Match’ (RTM) option.

Read: Sindhu, Saina Go Under the Hammer in PBL Auction Starting 11 am

Total Number of Teams - 8
Duration of the League- 24 days (December 22nd 2017-January 14th 2018)
Total Number of Venues - 5
Total Numbers of Players for Auction-133
Total Countries Represented-11
Total Number of Top 10 Ranked Players - 17
Total Number of Top 20 Ranked Players - 32
No of Icon Players and no of Indian Players -9 including three Indian
Total Number of Olympic Medalists–10
Total Number of Medalists from World Championship 2017- 8
Total Number of India Players in the auction - 82
Total Auction Purse for each Team- INR 2.12 Cr
Maximum Cap on a player during auction – INR 72 lakh
Total Prize money: 6 Cr (Winner - 3cr, Runner Up - 1.5cr, 3rd and 4th place finish -75 lakh each)

The league has added two new teams for this season - the North Eastern Warriors and Ahmedabad Smash Masters.

Each of the eight franchises are allowed to spend Rs 2.4 crore on their team. Each team can splurge a maximum of Rs 72 lakh on one player.

Men's world No.1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, Son Wan Ho of South Korea, women's World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, Rio Olympic champion Carolina Marin (Spain) and India's P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal all go under the hammer in Hyderabad as the player auction of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) gets underway in just a little while.

As many as 10 Olympic medallists (including three multiple medal winners) and eight medalists from the recently concluded BWF World Championships will be participating in the tournament that gets underway on December 22 and conclude on January 14.