Saina, Chong Wei top draws at IBL auction tomorrow

Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P Kashyap along with international star such as world number one Lee Chong Wei will be up for grabs when the much-awaited players' auction of the USD one million Indian Badminton League is held here tomorrow.
Six franchises from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Lucknow, will be bidding from a pool of more than 150 players, who will go under the hammer tomorrow during the auction, which has been postponed twice.
Five Indian players -- Nehwal, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, PV Sindhu and Kashyap -- have been earmarked as icon players, while world number one Chong Wei is the sixth icon player -- all attracting highest base price of USD 50,000.

The franchises owners -- PVP Group (Hyderabad), BOP Group (Bangalore), Krrish Group (Delhi), Sahara (Lucknow), Burman family (Pune) and consortium of cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, Telugu film star Akkineni Nagarjuna and former cricketer V Chamundeshwarnath (Mumbai) -- will have a cap of approximately USD 275,000 to fill the slot of 66 players.
"I want Chong Wei or Saina in my team. But I guess every franchise will want that. They are the top two players. We hope to can bag one. We also have other options ready. It is quite dicey," Delhi Smashers' coach Rashid Sidek, who is a regular coach of Chong Wei, said.

Even though the Koreans and the top Chinese players decided to give the IBL a miss, the tournament attracted eight of the top 10 men's singles players and six of the top 10 women's singles player.
Only two Chinese shuttlers -- 2006 World Championships silver medallist Bao Chunlai in singles and Zheng Bo in doubles -- will be available at the auction.