12 August 2016
Hyderabad

Tollywood Thunder’s franchise of Celebrity Badminton League Launched
CBL has already attracted an investment of around half a million US dollars
CBL Season 1 has Four Celebrity teams representing Kollywood, Mollywood, Sandalwood and Tollywood

Tollywood Thunder’s franchise of Celebrity Badminton League Launched here in city today at a function held in Hotel Avasa.

The team was announced in the presence of Manchu Lakshmi, Team Motivator and Naga Chaitanya, Brand Ambassador, Hemachandran, Founder and CEO of Celebrity Badminton League.

The Men’s Team headed by Sudheer Babu, Captain comprises of Tarun, Nikhil Siddarth, Kaushal Manda, Naveen, Satya, Anil, Krishna Chaitanya.

The Women team comprises of Seerat Kapoor, Sanjana Galrani, Tejaswini Madivadaand Apoorva Srinivasan

The Tollywood Thunder’s franchise is owned by Nandini Vijay, who runs, GIGA (Global Institute of Gaming and Animation), an animation college in Chennai. She is anentrepreneur with varied business interests. She also has produced many tele commercials.She runs an advertising agency and has years of experience in film distribution along with her partners Mr.Sagar and Mr.Dheeraj.

Each team owner is responsible for a franchisee that represents the Kollywood, Mollywood, Sandalwood and Tollywood film industry. The teams have each been acquired at a fee of Rs 2 crore. The total cost of hosting the celebrity league spanning the four states, with the finals to be played at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) would exceed a sum total of Rs 15 crore.

The India’s First Celebrity Badminton League- Season 1 has now four different teams. The start-up company Celebrity Badminton League Pvt. Ltd, the company which conceived the event, attracted half a million dollars (Rs 3.3 crore) of investment within six months of its launch from J.P.AcademyPvt. Ltd., a company that looks at investing into such sporting events

Speaking on the occasion Nandini Vijay, Franchisee owner of the Tollywood Thunders said, I am a Telugu girl. Sports is my passion. My trust with industry is for 10years. I strongly believe that our team is the strong contender and will be the winner of the Celebrity Badminton League, she said.

Lakshmi Manchu said Captain of the Tollywood Thunders, Sudheerbabu is a former badminton player and I am sure he will lead Tollywood Thunders team to the success.

Sudheer Babu, Captain of the Tollywood Thunders said India is moving from Cricket to Badminton. I am also acting in the Biopic of Pullela Gopichand he informed

Film Actress Charmi said, Hyderbab is the Mecca of Badminton Sport in the country.

The winners will get Rs 25, 15 and 10 lakhs announced, the organiers. The local match will be held on October 22nd at Gachibowli stadium.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Hemachandran, Founder & CEO of CBL said, “Having been an integral part of the Chennai Angel Investors and Indian Angel Network, I could quickly evaluate and recognise that the sports and entertainment industries have been the biggest money spinners over the last few decades. I believe that a multiplier effect kicks in when we present a combined avatar of both these elements in a power packed sporting league model. At least 80% of the celebrities play badminton as a recreational sport to keep fit and even as we announced our intentions to launch the league, we received immediate representation from the four team owners and celebrity players to participate in this format. The format allows the team owner to collect 15% from the central revenue generated by CBL, apart from acquiring individual team sponsorships to subsidise the cost of purchasing the team. The team owner will in turn bear the franchise fee, local promotion cost, event management, logistics and the money that will be charged by the celebrities for participation.”

“Badminton is the second most played sport in India after cricket and our efforts are to popularize the game even further. Saina and Sindhu who wear national colours have been standout performers in recent times inspiring youngsters and celebrities to take up this sport passionately. The league format helps the celebrities bring out another facet of their personality which also helps them keep their brand alive. The celebrities are taking the league and matches at CBL seriously, and have taken time out of their busy schedules to train regularly and I'm sure you will see the results on court.” Said Hemachandran

October 22nd the League will happen at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium with presence of Tollywood Film personalities .

The schedule of matches are as follows:

CHENNAI ROCKERS is a Franchise owned by Venkatesh C.R at Celebrity Badminton League. Mr.Venkatesh is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of DOT COM INFOWAY, ADATHA, GMASA and GALATA MEDIA. Actor Arya would be the captain of the Kollywood badminton team.

KERALA ROYALS is a Franchise owned by RanjitKarunakaran at Celebrity Badminton League. Mr. Ranjit is the Chairman of EAK group of companies and has been associated with various other business enterprises like hospitality and steel export. Leading hero Jayaram would be the captain of the Mollywood team.

KARNATAKA ALPS is a Franchise owned by Justin and co-owned by Sanghavi at Celebrity Badminton League. Mr. Justin is the founder of Alpha Digitech and an advisory member in the Board of Directors of GMASA and Mobilogi, a Malaysian company. Ms. Sanghavi is an Indian film actress and model, known for her work in Tamil cinema, Kannada cinema, and Telugu cinema. She has starred in over 95 feature films over a span of 22 years. They are bringing on board the finest talent from Sandalwood with Mr. Diganth as the team captain.

The Celebrity Badminton League (CBL) is bringing together the entire South Indian film industry in its very first season, and has all indications of becoming a national league by the next edition. The finals will be in Kuala Lumpur and given the popularity of Southern cinema there, CBL is sure to witness large number of fans cheering their favourite stars.