The Badminton Association of India (BAI) is the governing body for badminton in India. Based in Lucknow, BAI is an association registered under the Societies Act and affiliated to the Badminton World Federation, Badminton Asia Confederation, and the Indian Olympic Association. BAI was formed in 1934 and has been holding national-level tournaments in India since 1936. BAI conducts international tournaments in India like the India Open Super Series, Syed Modi India Grand Prix, national championships in all age categories, selects team and conducts the training camps for international tournaments like the Olympic Games, World Championship and other tourneys, looks after the training of technical officials, umpires, to keep Indian badminton abreast of the changes in the rules, and takes path-breaking initiatives like the Indian Badminton League to promote the sport.
The path-breaking $ 1 million Indian Badminton League is a joint initiative of Badminton Association of India and Sporty Solutionz Pvt. Ltd. The league will be a team event with 6-city based franchise namely Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Lucknow vying it out for the richest prize money purse ever in the history of the tournament. The IBL will follow the format of the most prestigious world mixed team badminton championship, the Sudirman Cup. IBL will have five matches in every round: men and women’s singles and doubles category (men’s, women’s and mixed). Each team will play 18 ties of best of 5 matches to a maximum of 140 matches played over three weeks.
Sporty Solutionz Pvt Ltd are the Commercial Partner for multiple years for planning and executing the Indian Badminton League and the Marketing Partner and Event Partners for the Yonex Sunrise India Open. The company is India’s leading TV Rights Management Company, and has been associated with almost all the premier sporting events in India like the IPL, Euro 2012, Sri Lanka Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League, FIFA World Cup Qualifying matches etc. Based in Noida (Delhi NCR), Sporty Solutionz also specialises in Sports Production, Events, Talent Management & Sports PR & Press Operations.