New Delhi: Recently world champion PV Sindhu retained Hyderabad Hunters with a bid of Rs 77 lakh on Tuesday in the auction for the fifth season of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) here. Defending champion Bengaluru Raptors jointly bid the highest bid of Rs 77 lakh for Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, the world's number one female player. The Raptors outpaced the Pune 7 Aces in the bid and added Tai Ju with them. B Sai Praneeth, one of India's top players, was retained by the Raptors team after spending Rs 32 lakh. Chennai Superstars kept male doubles player B Sumit Reddy with Rs 11 lakh, while Pune 7 Aces kept Chirag Shetty with 15 lakh 50 thousand rupees.

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According to information received from sources, Beiwan Zheng, the number nine American female singles player of the world, will also be competing with Awadh Warriors, for which the team spent Rs 39 lakh. Gayatri Gopichand, the daughter of national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, was picked by the Chennai team, while young Assam player Ashmita Chaliha was bought by her home team North Eastern Warriors for three lakh rupees.

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Let us tell you that the glow of the fifth season of PBL, however, faded when London Olympics bronze medalists Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth decided to withdraw from the tournament to focus on their international careers. 154 players including Sai Praneeth, Lakshya Sen and men's doubles players Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have been part of the auction.

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