4th Edition of CDK Global’s Corporate Badminton League (CBL) 2016 at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy

4th Edition of CDK Global’s Corporate Badminton League (CBL) 2016 kicked off today at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy

Received overwhelming response. More than 500 participants from over 190 corporate houses from across India are participating in the three day Badminton League

Olympian Srikanth Kidami inaugurated CBL

Hyderabad, November 04, 2016: CDK Global, the Hyderabad based largest global provider of integrated information technology and digital marketing solutions to the automotive retail industry presents the 4th Edition of CDK Global Corporate Badminton League — CBL 2016 in association with the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA).

The three day event, one of India’s first National Inter-Corporate Badminton Tournament kicked off at PGBA today and will continue till November 6, 2016.

Olympians Srikanth Kidambi and the leadership team of CDK Global India - Debashis Ghosal, Samir Sabharwal, Madhava Manthri, Nina Sethi and Romeet Kaul also graced the inaugural function.

Speaking on the occasion Srikanth said, if corporate come in such large numbers and start playing badminton, the sport gets lot of publicity and it gets promoted. I wish more such tournaments are conducted regularly.

The fourth edition began with a friendly match between the two Olympians—Srikanth Kidambi playing as one team and the leadership team at CDK Global - Debashis Goshal, Samir Sabharwal, Madhava Manthri, Nina Sethi and Romeet Kaul as one team.

The concept of “Inclusive Badminton” has been implemented for the first time this year. This is also called as “Plate Champion” as it provides an opportunity for those players who lost in the initial rounds to play again. This will be a game of a league within the league, where the players who lost in the initial rounds will get to play and win prize money as well. This was introduced to encourage the players of the initial rounds to get engaged and encouraged to play again.

The CBL has received overwhelming response of 500 participants from over 190 corporate houses from across India who are participating in the three-day Badminton League. Some of the corporate houses include: ICICI, IBM, Wipro, Microsoft, Cyient, Cognizant, Honeywell Technologies, Vasavi Hospital, Genpact, Apollo Hospitals, Aparna Constructions, Accenture, CDK Global India, KPTI Technology, BHEL, Bank of America, Google, TCS, Infosys, Lemon Tree Hotels, Accenture, Azim Premji Foundation, Oracle, Care Hospitals, Dr. Reddy Labs, Mahindra, Century Hospitals, Synchrony Financial, Kony Labs, Deloitte, L&T Technology Services, OYO Rooms, and many others.

Total 128 single, double matches, 32 mixed doubles, 32 women singles and Doubles will be played in next three days.

Lot of IT companies used to participate in the previous leagues. This time quite a good number of hospitals like Care, Himagiri, Vasavi, Apollo, Century, Continental, Call Heath etc are participating. There was even a good response from Startups like Need a Dubba, Purple Talk, EduTech etc.

Speaking about the league, Mr. Samir Sabharwal, Head of Finance – CDK Global said, “Today marks the beginning of yet another fantastic season of the Corporate Badminton League. We, at CDK, are delighted to be a part of this sporting event and witness talent in the corporate sectors. I wish all the participants the very best for the CBL and look forward to exciting matches throughout the tournament.”

CBL is open to all non-seeded individuals working in the Indian corporate sector. The league features men's and women's singles, doubles, and mixed doubles championships. “Inclusive Badminton” has also been introduced to engage and encourage the players who lost in the initial rounds to continue to play and win prizes as well. The tournament is conducted in a knock-out format of the best of three sets (Singles and Doubles). All the matches are played at the PGBA Indoor facility at Hyderabad.

The winners will take home cash prizes along with the coveted Pullela Gopichand Trophy.

Chief Coach of Indian Badminton, the man behind the success story of making Hyderabad the Mecca of Indian Badminton, Pullela Gopichand said, “I am happy that we are able to conduct the fourth edition of CDK Global Corporate Badminton League 2016 at this juncture when the entire nation is celebrating the sport badminton post the win of P.V. Sindhu in Rio Olympics”.

“Gopichand Garu has put Hyderabad on the map as India’s badminton capital. With his encouragement and support, CBL started in the year 2013. CBL started small with the noble intension of providing a platform for corporates to exhibit their sporting skills, to engage constructively, and to provide them with an activity to contribute to their work life balance”, said Sirisha Sripada, Director of Sikhara Events. CBL is the brainchild of the Sikhara Events.

“The first year of CBL had fewer participants, but things changed subsequently. We had 73 Companies participating in the first year, 107 companies in the second year, but last year we had record registrations of over 450 players from 150 companies, informed Sirisha Sripada.



The CBL participation has always been a good mix of IT and non IT companies. Some of the participants of previous editions include Procter & Gamble, ICCI Bank, ISB, Global Aluminum Pvt. Ltd, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd, International Paper APPM Ltd, Indo Ocean Engineers Services Pvt. Ltd, Vasavi Hospital etc.

Even Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) such as BHEL, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, and Bharat Electronics Ltd took part in the event. Banking majors such as State Bank of India, Bank of America, ICICI Bank, and the premier B School - ISB also participated in the CBL last year.

Major IT companies such as CYIENT, Microsoft, Google, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Tech Mahindra, IBM, CDK Global, Amazon, Accenture, Capgemini, CA Technologies, CISCO, Deloitte, Genpact, General Electronics, including the startup - Swiggy, were also participants in the CBL.