KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 – Malaysia Purple League (MPL) Badminton championship is back and continues to set it’s goal to promote badminton in the country as well as to create a platform for players to become the next champion.
In the past, MPL has hosted group leagues which was participated by various clubs. Due to the Covid-19 situation, the league organiser will be hosting the Top Glove Purple League Pro-Am 2020.
Sponsored by Top Glove, it will be an individual event aimed at creating a competitive platform for independent professional players.
The 2020 Top Glove Purple League originally slated in September, was delayed for about three months due the recent Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) regulations imposed by the government.
Now, the tournament will be held from 29 December 2020 to 3 January 2021 at Kompleks Kejiranan Precinct 11, Putrajaya.
Organizers expressed their hope that the event will give independent players a chance to return to the badminton arena and win prize money of more than RM100,000.
The inaugural event will be divided into three individual events, namely men’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles and the elimination round.
Some former national team stars who have confirmed their participation are Daren Liew, Soong Joo Ven and Iskandar Zulkarnain.
The drawing ceremony for this event will be conducted tomorrow (23 December) in an open and transparent manner.
Purple League chief operation officer, Ho Khek Mong (pic left) thanked Top Glove for delivering a silver lining to badminton as this is seen as a great initiative to support Malaysia’s independent professional players.
As a player before, he understands that what professional players, especially independent players need most now is a chance to play in order to get back in shape and improve on their world ranking.
He added that the tournament was mainly about promoting players over the age of 18, as many players need to decide whether to continue with their studies or work when they reach the age of 17 or 18 because of the limited number of professional events in the country for 18 years old players.
“In fact, the players are relatively mature, so we hope to help those over the age of 18 improve their level of play and progress to world stage through the Top Glove Purple League Pro-Am Competition 2020. When the platform stabilizes in the future, we will turn it into a perennial year-end Cup,” added Ho.
MPL thanked the Putrajaya Badminton Club for showing great support towards this event, and this collaboration is a sign of badminton clubs and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) complementing each other for the betterment of Malaysia’s badminton.
“The main objective of this tournament is to create another competitive platform to develop more talented players as many of the 18-year-olds in the state teams belong to private clubs. Thus, the aim and creation of Pro- Am 2020 is to urge clubs to continue grooming talented players. This competition will not only allow these up-and-coming players to play in a competitive platform, but also have the opportunity to be absorbed by the clubs and even the national team.”
The players who have won the national under-21 and under-18 doubles and mixed doubles titles in recent years are players from the clubs and MPL hopes that this tournament will bring back the badminton actions ahead of the next season and allow independent players to return to the game after not being able to be in action for approximately 10 months.
He believes that after more than half a year of break, he can feel the hunger and thirst of the players, hence this competition will be one full of suspense.
Anticipating high viewership, Ho urged badminton fans to be on the watch out.
In addition to Top Glove Purple League Pro-Am 2020, the media can brace themselves for more excitement in the upcoming tournaments organised by MPL such as SENHENG RedOne Purple League 2020/2021, AEON Credit Purple League Junior 2020, Bizlink Property Purple League Corporate 2020/2021 among other events.
Tournament schedule:
29th December (Tuesday):Men’s Doubles Round 16 & Quarterfinals
30th December (Wednesday):Mixed Doubles Round 16 & Quarterfinals
31st December (Thursday):Men’s Singles Round 16 & Quarterfinals
1st January (Friday):All events semi-finals
2nd January (Saturday):All events 3rd & 4th placing
3rd January (Sunday):All events finals
PRIZE MONEY
Men’s Doubles & Mixed Doubles:
Champion – RM15,000
Runner-up – RM8,000
3rd Placing – RM4,000
4th Placing – RM2,000
5th – 8th Placing – RM1,000
9th – 16th Placing – RM500
Men’s singles:
Champion – RM10,000
Runner-up – RM5,000
3rd Placing – RM2,500
4th Placing – RM1,500
5th – 8th Placing – RM1,000
9th – 16th Placing – RM500
About The Author
