Indian badminton club Pune Vijetas have bought Viet Nam's leading player Nguyen Tien Minh.—File Photo

HA NOI (VNS) —Indian badminton club Pune Vijetas have bought Viet Nam's leading player Nguyen Tien Minh, ranked world No 7, for US$44,000 to play in India's first ever badminton league (IBL), due to get underway from August 14-31.

According to Huynh Ngoc Lien, the vice chairwoman of HCM City's Badminton Association, the $1 million event attracts India's six leading clubs and every IBL club will be allowed to sign foreign players by auction.

The starting amount of money for the top five is $50,000 and for No 6 to No 12 is $25,000.

In other news, Minh was seeded No 7 after the draw for the World Badminton Championships took place on Monday.

The first round will see the 2013 US Open's defending champion meet Wu Joe of New Zealand, the world's No 116. If he gets through, he will play world No 60 Domke of Germany or No 69 NJan Frohlich from the Czech Republic in the next round.

The tournament will take place in China on August 5-11.-VNS