PBL postponed, city shuttlers welcome decision

Nagpur, Nov 27

The city shuttlers Mugdha Agrey, Rasika Raje and Arundhati Pantawne have welcomed the decision of postponement of Premier Badminton League (PLB) to next year keeping in mind the health and safety of the players amid the raging Covid19 pandemic.

City''s talented shuttler Mugdha Agrey who represented Pune 7 Aces in the fifth edition was little bit disappointed when she came to know that the sixth edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) was on Friday postponed to next year but she welcomed the decision considering prevailing Covid condition in the country.

Before Mugdha only three city shuttlers Arundhati Pantawne, Rasika Raje and Vaishnavi Bhale managed to play in the PBL.

While talking to Lokmat Times Mugdha said “ I have mixed feelings over the decision. Since this is a team event I will miss the fun factor. At the same time considering the current Covid condition in the country the decision looks correct”, she said.

Asked about her experience of the previous edition she said , “ I had a good experience of fifth edition of PBL. It will help me in future. I got an opportunity to share the dressing room with several star players players from the world”, she said

Another city shuttler and an employee of RBI Rasika Raje has also welcomed the decision. Rasika played for Lucknow Avadh in the fourth edition. “ I don''t think players will be disappointed over this decision. The Covid cases are increasing day by day in the country. In such a scenario it is good to postpone the tournament”.

Experienced shuttler Arundhati Pantawane who had played for Chennai Smashers in 2017 said, “ The decision to postpone the tournament is good but personally speaking It can be happened at one place by creating a bio bubble without any traveling. But the risk was high to field foreign players because the cases are increasing in the country. It would be better to conduct the league next year”, she said. It can be mentioned here that the league, which is one of the highest prize money badminton tournaments in the world, was initially scheduled to take place in the last week of December in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

However, SportzLive, the official license holder of the league under the aegis of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), decided to postpone the event due to the prevailing conditions. PBL is a sought-after global badminton league having six-franchise-based teams, who compete in a home and away format. The fifth edition of the tournament was held from January 20 to February 9 across four cities early this year.

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