Bengaluru, June 12: As many as three out of eight icon players – Mithun Manjunath, Prakash Raj and Sai Prateek fetched their maximum cap price of Rs 3.5 lakh apiece in the auction held for the inaugural edition of the Grand Prix Badminton League (GPBL) to be held from July 1 to 10 at the Karnataka Badminton Association.
Mithun was picked up by Malnad Falcons while Sai Pratheek was purchased by Mandya Bulls in draw of lots after four teams bid for the player and Prakash was bought by KGF Wolves at the top price. The other icon players who went under the hammer were Saneeth Dayanand (Kodagu Tigers – Rs 2.6 lakh), Daniel Farid (Bandipur Tuskers – Rs 3.1 lakh), Raghu Mariswamy (Mangaluru Sharks – Rs 3.3 Lakhs), Tanya Hemanth (Mysore Panthers – Rs 3.2 lakh) and Janani Ananthkumar (Bengaluru Lions – Rs 2.5 lakh).
Each team comprised of eight players which included one icon player, a minimum of two Tier-1 and Tier-2 players respectively and a minimum of two female players including the icon category. The player purse per team was Rs 12 lakh out of which Rs 2 lakh was reserved for player awards. The base fee for Icon players was set at Rs 2.5 lakh and was capped at Rs 3.5 lakh. The minimum salary for Tier-1 players was fixed at Rs 75,000 while capping it at Rs 2 lakh while Tier-3 players’ minimum salary was Rs 25,000 and a maximum of Rs 50,000.
In the auction where 238 players had registered, 64 players were bought. 14-year-old Rujula Ramu (Tier-1) fetched Rs 1.8 lakh and was picked by Kodagu Tigers while 13-year-old Jade Anil was the youngest player to be picked by Bandipur Tuskers for Rs 30,000.
The teams will be mentored by their respective superstars. Malnad Falcons will be mentored by Chirag Shetty while Bandipur Tuskers will have the expertise of Jwala Gutta who is also the co-owner of the team. Mysore Panthers will be guided by Satwik Rankireddy while the Kodava Tigers will be guided by Ashwini Ponnappa. The Mandya Bulls will have the support of Sai Praneeth and KGF Wolves will be mentored by HS Prannoy. The Mangalore Sharks will have Srikanth Kidambi as their ambassador while the Bengaluru Lions will be tutored by P V Sindhu.
The teams are divided into two groups. The top four overall teams will play the second stage which will be played on round robin basis. The top two will clash for the title.
Groupings
Group A: Bandipur Tuskers, Mandya Bulls, Kodagu Tigers, Mangalore Sharks
Group B: Mysore Panthers, Bengaluru Lions, KGF Wolves, Malnad Falcons
Team compositions
Bengaluru Lions Total spend: Rs 10 Lakhs
- Janani Ananthakumar Rs 250,000
- Bhargav S Rs 200,000
- Nithin H V Rs 200,000
- Sanjeeth S Rs 200,000
- Vaibhav Srinath Rs 50,000
- Aditya Diwakar Rs 50,000
- Sudeep Suresh Rs 25,000
- Supraja 25,000
Kodagu Tigers Total spend: Rs 8.75 lakhs
- Saneeth Dayanand Rs 260,000
- Rujula Ramu Rs 180,000
- Ramya Venkatesh Rs 100,000
- Vasantha Kumar HR Rs 190,000
- Vishesh Sharma Rs 30,000
- Sheethal D Rs 50,000
- S Adarsh Kumar Rs 40,000
- Saif Ali Rs 25,000
Mandya Bulls Total spend: Rs 9.25 lakhs
- Sai Pratheek Rs 350,000
- Ananya Praveen Rs 80,000
- Ashith Surya Rs 200,000
- Kiran Balaji Rs 80,000
- Anirudh Deshpande Rs 100,000
- Aruj Maheshwari Rs 35,000
- Kamurthy Raghavendra Rs 30,000
- Karnika Sree Rs 50,000
Mangalore Sharks Total spend: Rs 8.65 lakhs
- Raghu Mariswami Rs 330,000
- Vijetha Harish Rs 80,000
- Prerana N Shet Rs 90,000
- Kushal Raj Rs 200,000
- Jayanth Gopal Rs 80,000
- Sunil Gladson Rs 30,000
- Sachin C Rs 30,000
- Shashank S Rs 25,000
Malnad Falcons Total spend: Rs 9.75 lakhs
- Mithun Manjunath Rs 350,000
- Drithi Yatheesh Rs 160,000
- Pruthvi Roy Rs 200,000
- Shamanth S Kidiyoor Rs 140,000
- Venkatesh Prasad Rs 50,000
- Pranav Krishnamurthy Rs 25,000
- Arvind Kongara Rs 25,000
- Janvi Rs 25,000
Bandipur Tuskers Total spend: Rs 9.55 lakhs
- Daniel Farid Rs 310,000
- Alfiya Riyaz Rs 80,000
- Abhishek Yeligar Rs 180,000
- Apeksha Nayak Rs 80,000
- Vaibhaav Vaibhaav Rs 200,000
- Jade Anil Rs 30,000
- Kishal Ganapathy Rs 50,000
- Ganesh V Rs 25,000
Mysore Panthers Total spend: Rs 9.9 lakhs
- Tanya Hemanth Rs 320,000
- Rohit Mariswamy Rs 200,000
- B M Rahul Bharadwaj Rs 200,000
- Chiranjeevi Reddy Rs 80,000
- Kiran Kumar G Rs 80,000
- Tarun Morab Rs 30,000
- Muskaan Khan Rs 50,000
- Riya Pillai Rs 30,000
KGF Wolves Total spend: Rs 9.3 lakhs
- Prakash Raj Rs 350,000
- Gloria Vinaykumar Rs 90,000
- Hemantha Gowda Rs 100,000
- Suhas V Gowda Rs 200,000
- Naren S Iyer Rs 80,000
- Rudra Shahi Rs 50,000
- Rashmi Ganesh Rs 30,000
- Amritha P Rs 30,000
