The organising committee of Maharashtra Badminton League (MBL) have increased the number of teams in the league and now, eight teams will compete in its 2012 edition. In the last season, which got wonderful success, six teams participated in the MBL. After getting huge appreciation from all over India, organisers have decided to add two more teams which will make the competition more interesting and challenging.

Uday Sane, MBL organising secretary announced this decision and also revealed that the remaining two teams will be selected from Mumbai and Nagpur on a franchised-based set up. The organising secretary expressed that the huge success in the inaugural edition of the league forced them to add more teams which will help in making the game more popular in every corner of the country.

MBL is considered to be a strong platform for shuttlers to show their skills and get financial benefits along with opportunities to become a complete professional player and part of the national team.

Uday said, “The MBL has provided an ideal platform to several youngsters of Maharashtra to showcase their talent on the big stage. By adding two teams, more players will benefit and that will raise the overall standard of the game in the state.”

He further added, “In the present set-up there is no team from Nagpur and Mumbai. By adding franchisees from these two major badminton centres, the MBL will be a truly Maharashtra Badminton League with teams from every corner of the state.”

Negotiations are underway as a few companies from Mumbai and Nagpur are approaching to the administration of MBL. However, the decision is expected to be made at the end of this month after deciding the names of the companies in the meeting of executive committee.

MBL has gained the interest of shuttlers and companies from all over the country and have successfully completed its first edition. It is providing a wonderful opportunity to young shuttlers to show their potential and get better opportunities to become a world-class player.

The Australian open runner up and world # 12 crushed ,hot favorite Saina in front of the home crowd today at the  Sri  hari fort stadium disappointing  a huge following of he Indian star . The match saw  a close competition and the Indian was  struggling at the net where the Korean kept wining points at the Indian Open 2012  Saina crashed out in the second round, losing to South Korean Youn Joo Bae 19-21, 10-21.
The crowd which till then had savoured every moment of Parupalli Kashyap's sensational comeback win against Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana, PV Sindhu's upset of South Korean Ji Hyun Sung and Ajay Jayaram's valiant show against world No.1 Lee Chong Wei, fell silent.
A year ago, Saina had made a tearful exit in the first round of the India Open, and this time again she fell to a lesser known player.The left-handed Korean had beaten Saina only once in their four meetings before Thursday.She mixed up her game beautifully and Saina had no answers to her deceptive strokes and netplay. She began well and led 9-6 in the first game, but Youn steadily got the match in her grasp with a calm assurance.
Saina struggled to read her drops to the forecourt and was outplayed in the second game as Young grew in confidence.'I did not play well; don't know what went wrong. Sorry,' a visibly upset Saina said after the match. The other big casualty of the day was Denmark's Tine Baun, who lost to qualifier Xiao Jia Chen 13-21, 17-21.
Sindhu remained the only Indian in the women's singles draw. The 16-year-old shuttler beat eighth-seeded South Korean Ji Hyun Sung 21-17, 22- 20 and will next take on fourthseeded Chinese Yanjiao Jiang in the quarter-finals.Neha Pandit's run came to an end as she lost to Juan Gu of Singapore 13-21, 10-21. In the men's singles, Kashyap saved two match points to put it across Ponsana 15-21, 21-14, 22-20 to move into the quarter-finals.

China's Chen Jin moved closer to sealing his berth at the London Olympics by winning the men's singles title at the Asian Championships on Sunday.
Chen, who was seeded third, defeated fellow countryman and fifth seed Du Pengyu 21-12, 21-18 in China's eastern city of Qingdao.
The 26-year-old Chen needs to stay ahead of rival Peter Gade of Denmark in order to assure his coveted spot at the Olympics this year, the Xinhua news agency said.
Chen said he had his eyes on the Olympics.
"These two months have been continuous matches. I'm tired both physically and mentally," he said. "But there is no other way. For the purpose of Olympic points, I have to go all out."
The Asian Championships are one of the last major tournaments before the London Olympics.
But Chen played down his individual achievement, saying the performance of the Chinese team was more important.
"It doesn't matter who is champion. After all, the top four places in the Asian Championship are ours," he said, referring to the men's singles event.
Chen had a walkover in the semi-finals on Saturday after fellow Chinese badminton superstar and four-time world champion Lin Dan withdrew due to injury.
Lin's spot at the Olympics is assured, as he has already qualified.
In the women's single final, fourth-seeded Li Xuerui shocked by beating world champion Wang Yihan 21-16, 16-21, 21-9 in a hard-fought contest that lasted more than an hour.
The women's doubles final was another all Chinese affair. Top-seeded duo Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei held off a pair of young upstarts, Bao Yixin and Zhong Qianxin, to win 21-14, 21-15.
"Although they are younger than us, they are very powerful and it was difficult for us to win," Tian was quoted by Xinhua as saying

Around 200 badminton players from 16 countries are expected to take part in the first ever $200,000 India Open Super Series to be held at the Siri Fort Indoor Sports Complex  from April 26 to May 1.

In this Week long event  some of  the top-50  world rankings player will be seen in action. However, few elite Chinese players who would be busy with the Asian championship in their own country from April 19-24.

Organising Committee Chairman Devender Singh hoped the Super Series would be a grand success since the country already had the experience of hosting big events like the India Open Grand Prix in 2008 and the World Championships in 2009.

Super Series tickets  are available at www.bookmyshow.com. They can also call at 39895050 or buy it from 10 designated outlets of Café Coffee Day across the National Capital Region. Tickets would be available near gate No. 3 of the Siri Fort Complex.

The ticket prices will range from Rs. 200 to 300 for qualification rounds and Rs. 500 to 1,000 for knockout rounds.

The Indian team for Asian championship: Men: Singles: Ajay Jayaram, Saurabh Verma, B. Sai Praneeth; Doubles: Akshay Dewalkar & Arun Vishnu, Jishnu Sanyal & Manu Attari, Pranav Chopra & Kona Tarun.

Women: Singles: Aditi Mutatkar, Neha Pandit, P.C. Thulasi, Arundhati Pantwane; Doubles: Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponnappa, Aparna Balan & Prajakta Sawant, Pradanya Gadre & P. Jyotsana.

Mixed Doubles: Arun Vishnu & Aparna Balan, Kona Tarun & Ashwini Ponnappa, Pranav Chopra & Prajakta Sawant, Akshay Dewalkar & Pradanya Gadre .