New Delhi: The Premier Badminton League (PBL), scheduled to start from January 2, suffered a major blow as the big stars in top ranked shuttlers Carolina Marin and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan have reportedly decided not to take part due to tight schedules.
As number of big tournaments lined-up in the Olympic year, both the superstars decided to miss the forthcoming season of PBL, a city-based league.
During the launch of PBL, the organisers had announced that Dan and Carolina will be part of the January 2 to 17 event.
National coach Pullela Gopichand feels that its a difficult task to get all players to participate in the tournament. However, at the same time, also thinks that the absence of Lin Dan and Carolina Marin will not take the sheen away from the event.
“Lin Dan is not coming. May be he will come in the next edition. Carolina was there last year, but did not even play all matches. Yes, her stature is higher now. She will be missed, but the level is still very high which makes it exciting. Yes, I would love to have more players, but it does not make it any less (attractive),“ Gopichand told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
