Marin, Sindhu and Saina top draw at badminton league auction

In what could turn out to be a big blow to the second edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), top players including the likes of Lee Chong Wei will be missing from action.

PBL, which is the revamped edition of the Indian Badminton League (IBL), will be held from January 1 to 14 next year and the auction will be conducted in New Delhi on Wednesday. As the owners and coaches of the six-team league are getting ready to form the team, the absence of several top shuttlers is rankling the organisers.

Though Olympic and World champion Carolina Marin has confirmed her entry, it is reliably learnt that she will stay only for a few days.

Malaysian legend Chong Wei, Ratchanok Intanon, Shixian Wang, Li Xuerui and Nozomi Okuhara are not going to grace the tournament.

Though the big names are missing the participation is better than last year. We have tried to get them but due to prior commitments they have declined our offer, a team owner said.