Bengaluru unlikely to host PBL

The Premier Badminton League is unlikely to happen in Bengaluru due to the unavailability of the Sree Kanteerava indoor stadium.

As per the schedule, Bengaluru was to host the matches from February 5-9 which includes two league stage matches, semifinals and the final. But after the new development, it's most likely that Hyderabad, which hosts the penultimate leg, will have their leg extended to include the last stages as well.

"It's unlikely that it's happening in Bengaluru because the stadium is not available. We got to know very late. Most probably the final leg and the knockout will move to Hyderabad, just trying to finalise it now," said Atul Pande, Managing Director of Sportzlive, the license holder of PBL told DH on Thursday.

"We were earlier told that we were getting the stadium and we had gone ahead and planned accordingly and booked hotels etc," he added.

With the state Mini Olympics, conducted by the Karnataka Olympic Association, scheduled for the same week, the dates were clashing between the two events.

However, sources from the Raptors team confirmed that, while it looks unlikely, they remain in talks with the officials and are trying their best to host at least a few league matches. It appears that the semifinal and final are definitely going out of the city.

The fact that Koramangala Indoor Stadium does not have air-conditioning, as the matches need to be played at precise temperatures and controlled draft, rules that out as a possible venue.

The PBL will get underway from January 20 in Chennai.