Pune joins the PBL bandwagon; season 4 to have nine franchises

Pune was on Friday named as the new franchise of the Premier Badminton League, making the event a nine-team affair from this season.

In its endeavour to make PBL a much bigger affair, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has introduced the new team for the fourth edition of the league.

The Pune team has been named as Pune Seven Aces and is owned by popular Bollywood actress Taapsee Pannu and KRI.

"The number of people getting inclined towards badminton in this country has witnessed a steep rise in the last few years. PBL especially has been instrumental for such a development," BAI President and Chairman PBL Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

"The League started off with six teams in Season 1 and now we have nine franchisees within a span of three years, which is an incredible feat. I am confident we will continue to increase the popularity of the sport and PBL will continue to make waves all across in the future too," he added.

The upcoming season will be held from December 22 to January .