Full house at PBL final, but no closing ceremony

Sports fans in the national capital, who are notorious for not turning out in large numbers for disciplines other than cricket, threw up a surprise as the final of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) was attended by a packed stadium here on Sunday.

The Siri Fort Sports Complex was a full house as spectators came to see Delhi Acers take on Mumbai Rockets in the summit clash. A large number of fans were seen entering the stadium, excitedly discussing about the matches and players.

However, for reasons not immediately known, the scheduled closing ceremony of the event did not take place. Mumbai, where the event started on January 2, saw a bright and colourful opening ceremony but something similar did not happen on Sunday night.

The atmosphere was, nevertheless, quite lively with the crowd supporting both the teams in the midst of loud music, bhangra beats, dhols and light shows in between the matches. Cheergirls also added spark to the tie by dancing their way in-and-out of the court in between the breaks during the matches.

The tie was attended by union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who saw the first match in its entirety before leaving.

However, the main crowd-puller was Bollywood star and PBL brand ambassador Akshay Kumar. He was accompanied by colleagues and fellow actors Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh.