Sahara served termination notice

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 7

You may not see Awadhe Warriors, captained by India’s star shuttler Saina Nehwal, in the next edition of the Pro-Badminton League. The Warriors owner, Sahara, has failed to deposit the franchisee fee amounting roughly to Rs 3.5 crore; as a result, it has been served a termination notice by Sportzlive Entertainment, the rights holder of the league.

Responding to the notice, sent last month after several reminders, Sahara has requested the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and Sportzlive to give it a week’s time to make the payment. According to sources, Sahara wants to pay the fee in three instalments.

BAI general secretary Ajai Kumar Singhania said he was unaware of any termination notice sent to any team owner. “I have just taken over as the new general secretary of the federation and I am not aware whether we have served any notice,” Singhania said on Monday. Both Sporztlive Entertainment director Atul Pande and Sahara’s senior executive Abhijeet Sarkar were unavailable for comments.

Sahara Adventure Sports Limited, a group company of Sahara India Parivar, had bought the team in 2013. The Lucknow-based team, though captained by Saina, hasn’t won a title in the last three years.

No final decision

According to a source privy to the development, the final decision to terminate Sahara’s contract hasn’t been taken yet. “The ball is in the court of Sportzlive and BAI. It is up to them to either accept Sahara’s terms or tear up the contract,” said the source. A similar situation had arisen with the owners of former PBL champions Chennai Smashers, VPVS Sports Pvt. Ltd., as well. They, however, paid the fee.

This is not the first time Sahara has been in the news for the wrong reasons. It had defaulted on payments in Hockey India League too. The company co-owned UP Wizards with Suresh Raina and Ranchi Rays with MS Dhoni, but failed to make payments to their players and coaching staff after the 2015 edition of the tournament. 

Last year, too, there were reports about the players and coaching staff of Ranchi Rays facing some issues.