Star Sports signs up as title sponsor for Premier Badminton League

NEW DELHI: Premier Badminton League has signed up Star Sports as its title sponsor for the forthcoming edition of the league.

The league kicks off on January 2, 2016. Star Sports has already signed up as the league’s official broadcast partner.

Badminton as a sport has been making waves with country’s star shuttler Saina Nehwal ranked world number 2. PV Sindhu is ranked 12th while K Srikant is ninth in the overall standings.

"The success of India’s badminton stars internationally has led to the emergence of a passionate fan base back home. As a result, like kabaddi, badminton is now a sport that’s very close to the hearts of Indian fans," said Sanjay Gupta, COO, Star India.

"The prospect of our home heroes facing up against the best the world has to offer in our own backyard was a prospect that was too tempting to pass up. Strategically, it also made the most business sense for Star Sports given our efforts to create a vibrant sporting ecosystem in the country," he added.

Star Sports plans to introduce several innovative broadcast initiatives to the league to improve viewer engagement.

The broadcaster will project telemetry like players’ heart rates live on screen. It will also hand out four awards after each day of play for the best rally, the fastest smash, the player of the day and the fan of the day as selected through contests run by franchises across locations.

Tweaks to the rules, like unpredictable player draws, 'Trump Matches' – which are worth bonus points – and the newly-introduced 'sudden death' rule will add a further dose of excitement to the tournament.