Two of the four couples ‘separated’ by PBL enlivens Season 4

Pune: Matches are made in heaven is a clichéd saying now, but these matches were made on court—badminton court to be precise.

As the Season 4 of the PBL—the world’s richest badminton league—is set to begin this weekend there will be four couples, who tied knots after knowing each other while playing badminton and travelling across the world representing their respective countries in the caravan moving around.

Two of these four couples will be ‘separated’ for the duration of the league as the partners in life were picked up by different franchise teams—thankfully PBL moves to cities in a caravan and not like IPL, which is played on home and away basis.

The recently-married Saina Nehwal and her life partner Parupalli Kashyap will be playing for North Eastern Warriors and Chennai Smashers respectively, only six days after they tied the knot on December 16.

Saina, the first Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal, has achieved incredulous feats since she rose from the ranks—2018 CWG gold medal being the highlight this year in a face-off with PV Sindhu in Gold Coast.

The two will be cutting short their post marriage celebrations and assemble in Mumbai, which will host the opening leg of PBL starting on December 22 before moving to Pune.

The other ‘separated’ couple are Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy—the 2018 CWG Team gold winner Sikki will be playing for Ahmedabad Smash Masters, while her life partner Sumeeth will be Parupalli’s teammate at Chennai Smashers.

The other couples
Vietnam’s Nygun Tien Minh and his partner Vu Thi Thrang will be teammates at Bengaluru Raptors. Nygun Tien Minh, the 4-time Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist, is known for his agility and swiftness and possess deft stroke play. Vu is 2010 Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist and a PBL debutant.

The English pair of Chris Adcock and Gabrielle make up the fourth couple in the PBL.

The 2017 World Championship bronze medallist, Chris, won mixed doubles gold medal in CWG 2018 at Gold Coast partnering his wife Gabrielle and the two also won Team bronze for England wherein India won gold beating Malaysia in the final.

Factbox: Nine Teams and players for PBL Season 4
Bengaluru Raptors: The finalists of the previous season, have a strong lineup in the singles and the doubles department with ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth spearheading the attack. The city also hosts the semi-finals and the grand finale of PBL4. 

Singles: 
Kidambi Srikanth (Icon): Has enjoyed a successful 2018 that saw him win the silver at the Gold Coast CWG. 
Sai Praneeth: A part of the PBL3 winning Hyderabad Hunters squad, he is fourth Indian to win a Superseries title after Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi. 
Nygun Tien Minh: 4-times Southeast Asian Games bronze medallist.
Vu Thi Thrang: A bronze medallist at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
Doubles: Hendra Setiawa (2008 Beijing Olympics gold winner and a three-time World Championship winner, the Indonesian is World No 9); Lauren Smith: (Three Commonwealth Games silver medals. Winner of Scottish Open, Dutch Open, Czech Open and Canada Open in 2018); Marcus Ellis: (Winner of the Rio 2016 Olympics bronze medal and 2018 CWG gold medal); Mohammad Ahsan: (Two-time World Championship gold winner).

Ahmedabad Smash Masters
Singles:
Viktor Axelsen (Icon): An integral cog of the Bengaluru Blasters squad that made the final last season with an impeccable 100% win record in PBL3.
Daren Lieu: World Championship Bronze winner and the 2014 CWG gold winner.
Sourabh Verma: Winner of Dutch Open and Russian Open this year.
Kirsty Gilmour
Doubles: Sikki Reddy (Two times South Asian Games gold winner won CWG gold at Gold Coast 2018); Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (2018 CWG gold medallist); Lee Chun Hei Regnaid; Kidambi Nandagopal.
Indian Juniors: Vaishali Bhale and Anoushka Parikh.

Hyderabad Hunters: Defending champions
Singles
PV Sindhu (Icon): The 2018 World Tour Finals winner, 2016 Olympics silver medallist, the World No 6 Sindhu returns to her home state.
Mark Caljouw: Dutch shuttler won the Orlean Masters and finished runners-up at the US Open; Lee Hyun il: 
Doubles:
Eom Hye Won (Winner of a silver and a bronze medals in the 2013 World
Championship); Kim Sa Rang; Bodin Isara; Arun George. 
Indian Juniors:
Sai Uttejitha Rao, Megahna Jakkampudi, Rahul Yadav Chitaboina.

Mumbai Rockets: Two-time PBL finalists
Singles:
Lee Yong Dae (Icon): One of the most successful doubles player, South Korean dynamo won gold in 2008 Beijing Olympics and a silver at the 2012 London
Olympics, and 3-time World Championship silvers.
Anders Antonsen: European Championship silver winner in 2017 from Denmark.
Sameer Verma: World No 14 and winner of the Swiss Open and the Syed Modi International tournament. He qualified for the World Super Series Masters this year.
Pratul Joshi 
Doubles:
Manu Attri: (Winner of the Lagos International.
Kim Gi Jung: Two time World Championship bronze winner.
Pia Zebadiah: A part of the PBL3 winning Hyderabad Hunters squad and sister of men’s doubles world and Olympic champion Markis Kido.

Indian Juniors: Kuhoo Garg (Winner of the Iceland International and runners-up at the Lagos International); Shreyanshi Pardeshi; Anura Prabhudesai

North Eastern Warriors:
Singles: Saina Nehwal (Icon): First Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal, Saina Nehwal plied her trade for the Awadhe Warriors in the first three PBL editions.
Tian Houwei: Winner of China Masters 2018.
Tanongsak Sansomboonsuk: The first Thai player to win a Superseries. 7 South East Asian Games medals and a bronze at 2010 Asiad. Rituparna Das: 
Doubles: Kim Ha Na (Won her first ever title in India (India Open) in 2012. The 2014 Asiad silver winner); Yoo Yeon Seong (Former World No 2 South Korean); Liao Min Chun (The 2014 Asiad bronze winner from Taiwan); Kukkapalli Maneesha (Winner at the Lagos International and the Hellas International)
Indian Juniors: Dhruv Kapila and AS Siril Verma (Semi-finalist at Ghana International, former Junior World No 1).
Indian Juniors: Mithun Manjunath and Sanjana 

Awadhe Warriors: Two-time PBL semi-finalists.
Singles:
Son Wan Ho (Icon): The World No 6 is winner of World Championship bronze and a gold and silver at Asian Games.
Lee Dong Keun: The 2014 Asiad Gold winner.
Guru Sai Dutt: 
Beiwen Zhang: Winner of BWF World Tour title at the India Open 2018.
The Chinese is ranked World No 12.

Doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa: (Two-times CWG gold medallist); Mathias Christiansen; Lee Yang: (The Chinese Taipei shuttler is currently ranked 17 in the World); Sanyogita Ghorpade. 
Indian Juniors: MR Arjun (World No 39); Rasika Raje (WS).

Pune 7 Aces: The debutante team. Pune will host their home leg from December 29. Owned by Bollywood actress Taapsee Pannu, Pune 7 Aces’ inclusion makes the league a 9-team affair. With a strong lineup on the singles and the doubles department, led by ace Spaniard World Champion Carolina Marin.
Singles: 
Carolina Marin (Icon): Marin is one of the most experienced foreign players in the league, who guided the Hunters to the title last season. Winning the World Championship crown earlier in the year, coupled with wins at the China Open and the Japan Open, Marin is in sublime form.
Line Kjaersfeldt: Bronze medal winner at the 2010 BWF World Junior Championships.
Brice Leverdez: French shuttler Leverdez is 2018 European Champion.
Ajay Jayaram: A part of PBL since season 1, Ajay Jayaram has plied his tried across three franchises in the last three editions (Delhi Dashers, Mumbai Rockets & North Eastern Warriors) and will be donning the Pune 7 Aces outfit for the upcoming PBL4. With a wide array of shots and strong smashes his forte, Ajay Jayaram is certainly a name to watch out for in the Pune lineup. 
Doubles:
Mathias Boe: The 2012 London Olympics silver winner.
Vladimir Ivanov: The Russian is 2014 European Championship winner.
Chiraag Shetty: Won the gold at the Gold Coast CWG earlier in the year.
Lakshya Sen: A teen prodigy and a former Junior World No 1. Junior World Championship bronze winner and runners-up at the Youth Olympics earlier this year.
Prajakta Sawant: National doubles champion in 2010 and 2011; mixed doubles title in 2010. In 2013, she won the Bangladesh International partnering Arathi Sara Sunil.

Delhi Dashers: Winners of the inaugural edition.
Singles:
HS Prannoy: 
Tommy Sugiarto: The World No 1 Indonesian became the highest paid non-Icon Player with cashing Rs 70 lakh.
Evgeniya Kosetskaya: 2018 European Championship silver winner.
Doubles: Chai Biao (Three-time Asian Championship bronze winner, China’s Chai Biao won bronze in the 2017 World Championship); Wang Sijie; Maneepong Jongjit (The Thai is 2010 Asiad bronze winner); Lee Chia Hsin (Chinese Taipei player is 2015 Junior World Championship bronze winner).
Indian Juniors: Harika Veludurthi (winner of Ghana International); 
Vighnesh Develekar; Chiraag Sen.

Chennai Smashers:
Singles:
Sung Ji Hyun (Icon): Winner of 2015 World Championship bronze.
Parupalli Kashyap: Rajiv Ouseph: Two-time CWG silver winner from Britain; Chong Wei Feng
Doubles: Chris Adcock; Gabrielle Adcock (2017 World Championship bronze
winner, the current World No 9); B Sumeeth Reddy; Or Chin Chung.
Indian Juniors: Rutuparna Panda; Saili Rane.