Karnataka High Court allows BAI players to take part in GPBL 2023

PTI, Jul 25, 2023, 8:04 AM IST

Image source: PTI / File

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has allowed participation of Indian shuttlers in Grand Prix Badminton League Season 2 scheduled to be held from August 27 to September 9 after it stayed the operation of Badminton Association of India’s (BAI) circular asking the players to refrain from taking part in the tournament.

The BAI had issued circulars on April 10 and July 5, warning players not to participate in ”unrecognized tournaments”. But it was challenged before the Karnataka High Court which has now stayed the operation of the BAI circular.

In a July 21 order, the High Court also ordered BAI to not take any action against players, coaches and technical staff.

”Stay of impugned circulars; further the respondent No.2 is restrained from taking any coercive action against badminton players, coaches & technical staff who are registered with it pursuant to the impugned circulars,” the HC said in its order.

The inaugural edition of GPBL, comprising players from Karnataka, was launched in August last year. But this year, it was upscaled with the inclusion of players from tier 1 and tier 2 cities across the country and international players.

In its circular issued on July 5, BAI had warned players, saying ”If any of such Registered Personnel are found to have violated this notice, they will be liable for appropriate actions as per the Rules of the BAI.

”Even after such a notice, if anyone intends to participate in such tournaments, it will be at their own risks.” The league had received over 450 registrations, including 56 international players to be included in the Players’ Roster.

Some of the top Indian names include former world championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth, national champion Mithun Manjunath, Orleans masters winner Priyanshu Rajawat, Sai Prateek, Rohan Kapoor, while the international players include Russia’s Sergey Sirant, Belgium’s Julien Carraggi, Russian men’s doubles pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov.

However, owing to the circulars issued by BAI, many top players were sceptical of participating in the league.

Bitsport, the promotors of the league, said it has approached BAI on over 40 occasions during the last one year seeking clarity on the status of GPBL but there was no reply. ”BAI said in the circular that BAI-registered players shouldn’t participate in any private tournaments. But BAI has received orders from Delhi High Court in 2017 and Madras High court in 2022, saying they have no authority to prevent players from participating in any tournament because it is a violation of fundamental rights mentioned in the constitution of India,” Prashanth Reddy, League Commissioner, told PTI.

”BAI only supports players once they make it to the national team, but there are thousands of players who want to pursue the sport, so how do they finance the journey.

”What players are afraid now is that BAI might not send their entries for international tournaments or say you can’t play a national or state ranking tournaments. So when the players started calling us and with just about a month to go, we had no other option but to approach the court.” PTI tried to contact BAI regarding the issue but all calls went unanswered.

However, according to sources, BAI is not happy with GPBL making it a pan-India league. ”Last year teams were named after district of Karnataka, now other states teams have been included but state associations are also not aware of. None of the state secretaries have any idea, there is a lot of confusion,” a source said.

With BAI’s flagship event, the Premier Badminton League (PBL), not happening for the last three years, players are finding the GPBL as a good option.

There are likelly to be 10 teams in this edition with Gujarat Lions, Lucknow Flacons, Kerala Tuskers, Chennai Superstarz, Hyderabad Hounds, Bengaluru Tigers, Mumbai Wolves and Pune Panthers confirmed as of now, while the organisers are in talks with two other teams.

”We want to help the players financially so we have announced a minimum guarantee for the players who are in the final roster, irrespective of them getting picked by the franchises,” Prashanth said.

Some of the top Indian players, including PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Ashwini Ponappa, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, HS Prannoy, Chirag Shetty and Jwala Gutta, were associated with different teams as mentors in the first edition.

KGF Wolves were the winners of the inaugural edition.