IBL – Chong Wei goes for US$135,000

At the live auction, which was held in India today, for each of the 6 franchises to “buy” players for the upcoming Indian Badminton League, Lee Chong Wei was, as expected, the biggest draw and he was taken by the Mumbai Masters, which will be coached by Aparna Popat.  The world number one was bought for US$135,000, a little ahead of the second biggest draw in the auction, Saina Nehwal, who went for US$120,ooo to her hometown club of Hyderabad.

There were some surprises in some other bids, however, with local players often getting more interest – and money – than much more experienced or better ranked players. Here is the list of bids.

Lee Chong Wei sold at $135,000 to Mumbai Masters (50,000)
Saina Nehwal sold at $120,000 to Hyderabad Hotshots (50,000)
Juliane Schenk bagged by Pune Pistons at $90,000 (50,000)
PV Sindhu sold at $80,000 to Lucknow Warriors (50,000)
Parupalli Kashyap sold at $75,000 to Banga Beats (50,000)
Tan Boon Heong sold at $50,000 to Delhi Smashers (25,000)
Carsten Mogensen sold at $50,000 to Banga Beats (BP)
Koo Kien Keat sold at 50,000 to Delhi Smashers (25,000)
Pradnya Gadre sold at $46,000 to Hyderabad Hotshots (10,000)

Nguyen Tien Minh sold for $44,000 to Pune Pistons (25000)
Sai Praneeth sold for $40,000 to Delhi Smashers (15,000)
RMV Gurusaidutt sold at $40,000 to Lucknow Warriors
Akshay Dewalkar sold at $36,000 to the Banga Beats
Pranav Jerry Chopra sold at $36,000 to Mumbai Masters (10,000)
Joachim Fischer Nielsen sold at $35 000 to Pune Pistons (BP)
K. Srikanth sold at $34,000 to Lucknow Warriors (15,000)
Jwala Gutta  sold at $31,000 to Delhi Smashers (BP)
Tine Baun sold at $30,000 to Mumbai Masters (BP)
V. Diju sold at $30 000 to Delhi Smashers (BP)
Tarun Kona sold at $28 000 by Hyderabad Hotshots
Arun Vishnu sold at  $26,000 to Pune Pistons
Maneesha K. sold at $26,000 to Lucknow Warriors
Tai Tzu Ying sold at 25,000 to Banga Beats (BP)
Sourabh Verma sold at $20,000 to Pune Pistons (BP)
Wong Wing Ki sold at $20,000 to Delhi Smashers (BP)
H.S. Prannoy sold to Delhi Smashers at $16,000 (BP)
Arundhati Panthawane sold at $15 000 to Delhi Smashers (BP)
Taufik Hidayat sold at $15,000 to Hyderabad Hotshots (BP)
Markis Kido sold at $15,500 to Lucknow Warriors (15,000)
Aparna Balan sold at $12,000 to Banga Beats (BP)
Manu Attri sold at $10,000 by Mumbai Masters (BP)
Carolina Marin sold at $10,000 to Banga Beats (BP)
Goh V Shem sold at $10,000 to Hyderabad Hotshots (BP)
Maneepong Jongjit sold at $10,000 to Lucknow Warriors (BP)
Anup Sridhar sold at $6,000 to Pune Pistons (BP)
Sanave Thomas sold at $5,000 to Pune Pistons (BP)
Ruthvika Shivani was sold at $3,000 to Lucknow Warriors (BP)

Rajiv Ouseph – Not sold – Sent to reserves at the moment.
Chetan Anand – Base Price $7,500, Not Sold. Sent to reserves at the moment.

BP = Base Price