PBL 2020: Semi-finals, final and last leg of event shifted from Bengaluru to Hyderabad due to unavailability of venue

Bengaluru: The last leg of the upcoming Premier Badminton League (PBL) was on Friday shifted to Hyderabad from Bengaluru after the Bengaluru Raptors expressed its inability to host the matches including the semi-finals and final due to unavailability of venue. [caption id=“attachment_7640841” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational photo. AFP[/caption] The 2020 edition of the PBL will have 24 ties which will be played in 21 days across four different cities starting on 20 January. Bengaluru Raptors was scheduled to host the last leg from 5 to 9 February. However, on Thursday, in a series of tweets, Bengaluru Raptors made it clear that due to the unavailability of the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, it will not be able to host the scheduled matches. “The last leg of Premier Badminton League (PBL) season 5, which was scheduled from February 5-9, has been shifted from Bengaluru to Hyderabad due to unavailability of the stadium,” the organisers said in a media release. The matches will now be played in Hyderabad, which will also host the penultimate leg from 29 January to 4 February. “Hyderabad was supposed to host the matches from January 29 to February 4 as per the original schedule. Now 15 matches including three double headers will be hosted by Hyderabad as per the updated schedule which will start from January 29,” the release stated. “The semi-finals and finals will also be hosted in Hyderabad. The other two venues for the season 5 are Chennai (20-24 January) and Lucknow (25-28 January).” After the first leg in Chennai, the league will move to Lucknow on 25 January, and then to Hyderabad on 29 January.