After the grand success of inaugural Indian Badminton League (IBL), BAI President Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta has said that there is a possibility of making a few changes in the next edition like including Women’s Doubles, having a ‘Review System’ in place and advancing the timings of the matches. “Both genders play the game with equal enthusiasm and that is exactly why IBL has received so much of popularity, success and attention. Keeping this interest in mind it will be interesting to include woman’s doubles if format, time and situation allows,” DR. Das Gupta said. “Women’s Doubles is a very important part of World Badminton. Like Men’s category, even women have three formats at the Olympics and Team World events. I personally feel we can have Women’s Doubles included but surely this is my personal opinion and not of the IBL’s. “Such inclusion will depend on whether the format allows or not. And is this a feasible option, that has to be seen,” he added. Dr. Das Gupta also said that he favoured bringing in a ‘Review System’ in the next edition of the IBL. “In all likelihood, there is a possibility of bringing in the Review System. There were some controversial decisions, so keeping that in mind we will in all likelihood have decision review system from next year,” he said. The Rajya Sabha MP said that the timing of the ties may be tweaked after consulting with the Broadcasters. “We want families to come out and watch matches and have fun at least for five hours and that was the idea and will work on it to make it more interesting next year. “May be seeing the time stretch we might work to start little early but nothing concrete has been decided yet. We have to talk to the host Broadcaster also. Let’s see what best we can come up with,” he added. Buoyed by the success of the inaugural edition of the Indian Badminton League (IBL), the Badminton Association of India (BAI) is now planning to increase the number of Teams for the second edition next year. BAI President Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta told the BAI Members at the AGM that they would have to increase the number of Teams next year thanks to the unexpected success of IBL in the first edition. "BAI President is flooded with requests from various big Companies from across the Country that they would like to join the IBL bandwagon next year. He told the house that IBL will be an eight or nine-Team affair in 2014". He said the requests have come from various cities including Nagpur, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Although, nothing has been finalized yet, BAI would seriously consider all the requests in its next meeting after the IBL final. "It is a very happy situation for BAI. Since IBL got huge support from the fans and investors, several new companies have approached us as well our event managers Sporty Solutionzs. It will be great for everyone, especially the players, if a couple of more teams are added to the IBL structure," said the source.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 14:24:53 +0000
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