In a major blow to the Grand Prix Badminton League, a slew of India’s well-known badminton players, including the fast-rising Mithun Manjunath, have pulled out of the second season of the event which is scheduled to begin here from Sunday.
The 25-year-old Bengaluru shuttler, who is one of four men’s singles players in India’s Asian Games roster alongside H.S. Prannoy, K. Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, was bought for a staggering ₹14.5 lakh by Chennai Superstarz in the auction held here on August 5. Also uncertain is the participation of World championship medallist Sai Praneeth, who was procured by Northeast Rhinos for ₹10 lakh.
The second season of the League was launched amidst much fanfare earlier this month, with badminton legend Prakash Padukone gracing the occasion and exuding hope that such competitions would help in the further development of the sport in India.
