World no. 1 Lee Chong Wei fetched the highest amount of $135,000, even as Saina Nehwal finally got the opportunity to represent her home town — Hyderabad — in the players’ auction for the inaugural Indian Badminton League here on Monday.
Lee will represent the Mumbai Masters in the first of its kind tournament that commences on August 14.
Saina, one of six icon players, was bought by Hyderabad Hotshots for $120,000 (`71,27,796 approx) in what was the highest amount for an Indian shuttler.
Hyderabad and Lucknow Warriors were locked in an intense battle for the London bronze medallist, with the latter making sure the world no. 3 stayed at home.
Meanwhile, the bidding for Malaysia’s Lee had everyone on the edge of their seats with Mumbai Masters calling the shots quoting a whopping price. Delhi Smashers and Banga Beats fought till the end but could not match the Mumbaikers, which has cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar among its consortium of owners. Said one of the members of the Mumbai franchise, actor Nagarjuna: “Before coming to the auction, Gavaskar told me that we should get the world no. 1. We are happy that we got LCW.”
World no. 13 Parupalli Kashyap, also an icon player, was picked up by Banga Beats for $75,000, while teen star P.V. Sindhu went to Lucknow for $80,000. Doubles specialist Jwala Gutta was bought by Delhi Smashers for $31,000, even as Ashwini Ponnappa ($25000) was left to be picked by Pune Pistons by default.
Except for Ashwini and Jwala (priced at $25000), the base price of all the icon players was $50,000 each.
World no. 4 Juliane Schenk ($50,000) triggered a contest between Pune and Delhi, with the latter grabbing the German for $90,000, while Dane veteran Tine Baun was bought by Mumbai Masters for her base price of $30000.
With Jwala in their side, the Delhi owners made sure that they have strong doubles pairs in their ranks so they roped in V. Diju ($30,000, up from from $15,000) and the Malaysian world no. 2 pair of Boon Hoeng tan and Kien Keat Koo (for $50,000 each starting from $25,000).
There were a couple of young Indians who fetched surprise amounts, with doubles players Pradnya Gadre and Maneesha K. being going for more than four times their base prices. While Maneesha (base price of $4000) went to Lucknow Warriors for $26,000, Pradnya ($10,000) was bought by Hyderabad for $46,000.