5 Popular Sports Leagues in India

BENGALURU: Indians are so passionate about sports that the country has never been detached of it and it has been playing a major role in integrating the nation. Although, cricket has been predominantly popular among past few decades, the recent times have also proved the rise of other sports like badminton, foot ball and Kabaddi.

Hence, all the leading sports are now following the trend, as they are into sports leagues that are driving the fans crazy. Hence here goes the list of such sports leagues that the richest and the most popular, as reported by the WalkThroughIndia.

Indian Premier League (IPL):

IPL, the most popular super league in India and has completed 8 year till date, with all the speculations, allegations and the controversies, yet going strong in terms of popularity. The tournament got kicked off in the year 2008 and with eight teams in the tournament and as of now the winning teams receives 15 crore and the runner-up is prized 10 crores. Similarly, the second and the third runner-ups are giver 7.5 crores each.

Indian Super League (ISL):

Though football is largely popular in the country, India has failed to deliver its best at the real team on the international arena, but the fan base for the game is growing rapidly. Hence ISL took off last year with eight teams as the participants and the Atlético de Kolkata emerged as the winner of the first ISL. 15 crore was awarded to the winning team.

Indian Hockey League (IHL):

Probably no other country has the profound heritage and history that we have for the game of hockey, as the Indian team was once a pioneer in the respective game and was able to bring down any sort of attack form the opposition.

 But today popularity of the cricket has been bit overshadowed the recognition of the game Cricket; however, IHL stands third in fame and is ragingly inclining. The league has total of 6 franchises and the prize money is around 5 crore and the winning team gets the share of 2.5 crore.

Pro Kabadi:

Pro Kabaddi is a trend setter, has become immensely popular all over the country and Kabaddi being a game that originated in India, has been successful in driving spectators towards the Kabaddi stadiums. Pro Kabaddi was started under the influence of the popularity that the IPL gained and surprisingly the Pro Kabaddi has become successful and the league looks to overtaking the IPL in terms entertaining the crowd.

Indian Badminton League (IBL):

India achieved its first international feat, when Prakash Padukone won the All England Open in 1980 and Pullela Gopichand repeated it in 2001. Recently, players like Srikanth Kidambi and Saina Nehwal have been leading players in Indian badminton world and as a result Indian Badminton League was launched in 2013 and as of now with $1 million of brand value, the league is the richest league in the world, played by six franchises.

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