We went to IBL 2013 at Pune yesterday. We enjoyed the matches. Unlike IPL where honestly the place was so overcrowded we could hardly see any action even if it was in front of our noses ... here we could follow the complete match. There was noise but not so much that the game was in danger of being obscured.
We saw Lee Chong Wee play against Ajay Jayaram and it was a good match I thought. The speed of the returns from the World No 1 astonished me ! Phew!
The Saina Nehwal match was one sided against Thulasi but perhaps that was to be expected. The other matches were enjoyable. We saw Saina go into the commentary box. Later on we got to see P V Sindhu play. That was fun too.
My daughter met her friend from our society and they went crazy trying to get an autograph from Saina and unfortunately our baby ended up being disappointed. What was worse in my opinion is that Sindhu mentioned she would meet us in 2 minutes after she changed and then the security guards chose to chase us away. Lest it be construed that I am annoyed with her - nothing can be further from the truth. It would have been nice to have been able to meet her and get her autograph but I can understand that players do have other concerns - however I wish she had been able to come back and sign !
I had not really cared for Jwala Gutta before but I felt she was the most approachable of all the badminton players. She did not mind signing autographs and throwing them back to the audience and in general seemed more people friendly. I have changed my mind about her after watching her yesterday. So due to this graciousness - our daughter got her autograph which was thrown down to her and then ... thrown back up too ! :)
I do not have anything against other players - but - all this adds in to make people like me shell out for the tournaments na ? And where people come - hey more sponsors and money follow ! :)
I enjoyed watching IBL Match much better than IPL .. simply b'cos I was able to follow the action.
There were players who had to return a serve against Saina and later on Sindhu and got a goody bag from Vodafone .. :)
However to make the IBL matches more popular across India I think a few things should be taken care of
[ The live feed from 3 channels dropped to one channel ]
1. The idea of taking tickets against paper printouts is a waste of time and trees ! And that bit of signing off with "Recd" ... crazy !!!! The bar code in the tickets should suffice.
2. Make sure everyone can get seated in time to watch the matches. First there was a big serpentine Q and then suddenly everyone was being sent across hurriedly !!! What is the point of security then ?
3. People who took tickets for 300 Rs had no qualms about sitting in the upper sections. And those people who had taken 600 Rs tickets were left to fend for themselves. Entirely avoidable with proper organization.
4. Food should be made available within the stands. :) Hey we want to watch the matches after all !!!
5. Rope in the supposed actors who are brand ambassadors to do some ads - I saw no ads with Aamir Khan or Deepika Padukone ( supposedly according to a site they are the brand ambassadors ). In fact given her history I would think Deepika would want to do endorsing for free ! :) I only saw John Abraham in the endorsements.
6. Have some time for badminton players to interact with the fans. Something that is manageable. [ Those 3 people serving cannot be counted. ] So people can at least get an autograph signed. It will be the thought that hey we not only can get to see Saina we may get an autograph with her. Definitely a crowd puller. And right now - they could do with more popularity.
7. Organize the camera area properly. We were at the topmost row and it seemed to me like all the time the camera man was screaming at us to sit down ! Hey ... we are at a sports match .. don't expect us not to get up ! If it is that much of a problem - then set up elsewhere.
8. Get proper badminton players ( or ex-players) for commentary. Seriously getting cricketers (or ex) is not going to cut ice. And inform the public about the game. In cricket - they keep explaining the rules of the game ... again and again so newcomers get hooked into it.
9. Talk about the badminton players themselves. Where they have learnt the art, their national level games, international level games, standing in the rankings etc. The more the role models the better.
Hmm that is all I can think of at the moment. Still for all the our players I do hope IBL becomes a rage !
