At the recently concluded Indian Badminton League (IBL) auctions, organizers have cut the base prices of several top players at the last minute. While Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa have aired their anger, it is now the turn of the male players who also got a raw deal at the auction.

Doubles players Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar stated their displeasure at not being informed of the change. As per the contracts they signed, players who played for major tournaments would be priced at $15,000 as a base price. Unfortunately, this was reduced to just $5,000.

Rupesh Kumar expressed that he does not know what has happened when it was clearly mentioned that senior players would have a base price starting from $15,000.

Sanave Thomas was also upset at the decision of the IBL organizers to reduce the base price and noted that he had heard from the media about the large price slash, which is very difficult to accept.

IBL officials have responded added that Indian doubles players with 11-25 national rankings are offered the equivalent of $3,000, while senior international players will receive the equivalent of $15,000.

Incidentally, Thomas and Rupesh are ranked 159 in the world and 18 nationally. However, the auction had faced other controversies as players' named were picked from a draw and not according to rankings. Due to this several players had to settle for low prices and some were not even chosen for IBL.

(AW: Sruthi)