Celebrity Badminton League 2016

Hyderabad league matches of Celebrity Badminton League kicked off at Gachibowli stadium in city today

“If film wallas come and play Badminton like this, imagine the publicity the sport gets. This will help popularise the sport further”: Srikanth Kidambi, the highest ranked Indian men’s badminton player

Leagues like Celebrity Badminton will do lot of good to the sport, observed Nandiniy Vijay, Dr . Dheeraj, and Sagar Penetala, Owners of Tollywood Thunders, The Franchisee of Telugu States.

Hyderabad, October 22, 2016.. The second regional league matches of Celebrity Badminton League kicked off here in city at Indoor Badminton Stadium in Gachibowli stadium today.

The second league of the season one was formally inaugurated by veteran film star Srikanth and the highest ranked Indian men’s badminton player in the international circuit with world rank no. 9, Srikanth Kidambi.

They also unveiled Trophy of the Celebrity Badminton League.

Speaking on the occasion, Hemachandran, Founder and CEO, Celebrity Badminton League said, “All the teams had good practice like professionals. He expressed his satisfaction that there is every possibility that it will go national by next season. The finals will be played at Kaula Lampur on12th November. We will have grand gala opening ceremony a day prior to it on 11th November.

Nandiniy Vijay, Dr. Dheeraj, Mr. Sagar Penetala and Vijay the owners of Tollowyood Thunders said their team has practiced well like a professional players and they have every possibility of winning the coveted trophy.

Leagues like Celebrity Badminton will do lot of good to the sport, observed Nandiniy Vijay. Hyderabad is a Mecca of Badminton. It is the badminton capital of the country, she said.

Ms. Nandiniy Vijay, Dr. Dheeraj and Mr. Sagar Penetala said that they have acquired the team at a fee of Rs 2 crore and are spending Rs 1.5 crore in organising the regional tournament. The total cost of hosting the celebrity league spanning the four states, with the finals to be played at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) would exceed a sum total of Rs 15 crore, they added


Raghuram and Praveen, Board members of Celebrity Badminton Leagues also graced and spoke on the occasion.

Speaking immediately after unveiling, Srikanth, the film star said all the four teams are same to me. And he wished them all the best.

Kidambi Srikanth said, if film wallas come and play Badminton like this, imagine the publicity the sport gets. This will help popularise the sport further.

Replying to RJ Bargavi’s question that when would be his turn to get into films, as more and more film stars are getting into badminton, Srikanth said “he would plunge into films whenever the opportunity knocks his door”.

Ashrouf and Dato Salman the hosts of the show in Kaula Lampur in Malaysia were introduced to the audience.

All the four team captains Diganth of Karnataka Alps team, Arya of Chennai Rockers, Jayaram of Kerala Royals and Sudheerbabu of Tollywood Thunders were introduced along with their franchisee owners.

It is an excellent set up. Tollywood Thunders made excellent arrangements said Naga Chaitanya, Brand Ambassador of the native team

Lakshmi Manchu, Team Motivator of the team said, the tournament was the celebration of coming together.

Sudheerbabu, Captain of Tollywood Thunders said the team had rigorous practice at Pullela Gopichand Badminton academy and said that they have every chance of winning the trophy.

Team (A, B, C, D) was decided by spin wheel method before the league. The initial league round was played between Team A Kollywood - Chennai Rockers Vs Team B Mollywood- Kerala Royals and Team C Sandalwood- Karnataka Alps Vs Team D Tollywood- Tollywood Thunders

Subba Ravamma, mother of noted Badminton Player, Pullela Gopichand also graced the occasion.
The Men’s Team headed by Sudheer Babu, Captain, Tarun, Vice Captain, Kaushal Manda, Naveen, Satya, Anil, Krishna Chaitanya.

The Women team comprises of Sanjana Galrani, Tejaswini Madivada and Apoorva Srinivasan

The first league match was played in Kochin. Now the second leagues was organised in Hyderaba.

The finals will be held in Stadium Cheras Kuala Lumpur on November 11th and 12nd, 2016 .

CBL is a professionally managed sporting league that provides an innovative, entertaining and high-quality league platform for celebrities to exhibit their badminton abilities and deliver value for fans, partners and professional players.


In a day long tournament held on Saturday, five matches were played between Kollywood, Mollywood, Sandalwood and Tollywood film industry teams. The four teams were Chennai Rockers, Kerala Royals, Karntaka Alps and Tollywood Thunders.

The five matches held were Mens Doubles-I, Women’s Doubles, Mens Doubles-2, Mixed Doubles and Mens’s Dobles-3. The inaugural match was played between Munna and
Arya of Chennai Rockers and Rajeev and Arjun of Kerala Royals. Kerala Royals managed to with the game with 15-13 and 15-11.

It was followed by Women Doubles Roopaand Gayatri of Chennai Royals and Parvathi and Rajani of Kerala Royals. Kerala Royals won with 15-7 and 15-5.

The third match was again the Men’s Double between Biju and Narayan of Kerala Royals and Prasanna and Santhanu of Chennai Rockers. Kerala Royas won with 15-9 and 15-14.

The mixed doubles team Jayaram and Parvathi of Kerala Royals lost to Munna and Suja team of Chennai Rockers by 15-9, 10-15, 7-15.

“Badminton is the second most played sport in India after cricket and our efforts are to popularize the game even further. Saina and Sindhu who wear national colours have been standout performers in recent times inspiring youngsters and celebrities to take up this sport passionately. The league format helps the celebrities bring out another facet of their personality which also helps them keep their brand alive. The celebrities are taking the league and matches at CBL seriously, and have taken time out of their busy schedules to train regularly and I'm sure you will see the results on court

The Celebrity Badminton League (CBL) is bringing together the entire South Indian film industry in its very first season, and has all indications of becoming a national league by the next edition.

About Celebrity Badminton League (CBL): CBL is a professionally managed sporting league that provides an innovative, entertaining and high-quality league platform for celebrities to exhibit their badminton abilities and deliver value for fans, partners and professional players. CBL aspires to identify and nurture aspirants to become professional players. CBL is governed and guided by a reputed council comprising industry captains, opinion leaders and venture capital investors who aim to bring two of the biggest money spinners namely the entertainment and sporting Industry together, making it a national event with value accretion to all stakeholders