Rp 1.6 billion up for grabs at Super League

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Semarang, Central Java: Shuttlers will have a chance to grab a total of Rp 1.6 billion (US$165,803) in prize money at the Badminton Super League, which will be held in Surabaya, East Java, on Feb. 3-9.

Super League director Yoppy Rosimin said on Thursday this year’s prize would be higher than that of the Rp 1.3 billion offered on in 2011.

“We are trying to increase the amount of the prize money in every event,” Yoppy, who is also the head of badminton club PB Djarum Kudus in Central Java, said as quoted by Antara news agency.

It will be third time the supposedly biennial event will be held after the previous outings in 2007 and 2011. The Super League will offer three singles and two doubles events each in the men’s and women’s division, with 10 men’s teams and eight women’s teams from local and foreign clubs confirmed to participate.

Foreign clubs that have confirmed their participation are Unisys, Renesas and Tonami from Japan; two from South Korea; and Maybank from Malaysia. Yoppy said the foreign clubs would deploy their best national players. For example, Unisys will assign world No. 9 men’s singles shuttler Sho Sasaki to the battleground.

In the 2011 Super League, the SGS PLN team, which was strengthened by Malaysian Lee Chong Wei (now the world champion) and former world champion Taufik Hidayat, won the men’s division, while the Jaya Raya Suryanaga team was victorious in the women’s division, in part thanks to picking up Dutch shuttler Yao Jie.