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Badminton Action to Resume in India, Two Senior Ranking Tournaments Planned for April

By: Editor
Date: 30 Jan, 2021
Image Courtesy: GoBadminton

With two senior ranking tournaments scheduled for mid-April 2021, Badminton is all set to make its much-awaited return in the country. The Badminton Association of India took this decision at a virtually conducted Executive Committee meeting, with all of the affiliated state units in attendance.

The resumption of the badminton tournaments will be precursor to the India Open, expected to take place from the 11th of May 2021, the final qualifying event for the Summer Olympics in July-August 2021.

Speaking about the developments BAI Secretary Shri Ajay Singhania admitted that it had been a long time since the game has been paused, and that the association was confident of resumption.

“Let's see how the coronavirus situation is then (April). When we get the chance to conduct the tournament, we'll get a fair idea of how to go about things,” the secretary added.

Resumption of the tournaments will be as per a new tournament structure, comprising of three levels – L1, L2, and L3 – at the senior level. There will be a total of 12 tournaments planned in a year, while there is no immediate change in the structure of tournaments at the junior level.

The grading of the tournaments at the senior levels would be – Level 1 tournaments will have a prize money of Rs 25 Lakhs, and there will be two such tournaments; Level 2 tournaments with a prize money of Rs 15 lakhs will have four tournaments in the year; while Level 3 tournaments with a prize money of Rs 10 lakhs will have six tournaments in the year. The senior nationals, which will be of Level 1 category but will have a Rs 50 Lakh prize money associated with it.

The two tournaments being proposed for the month of April would be Level 3 tournaments. With 64 singles entries, and 32 in doubles, the tournament venues are yet to be finalized. Also, it was decided there will be no restriction on the number of participants – a total of 32 entries in singles and 16 in doubles will come through the qualification ranks.

“While our focus was on the resumption of the sport, we ensured players' safety remained as our top-most priority. Though the situation is getting better gradually in the country, we will not compromise on players’ health while conducting these tournaments. The new tournament structure and revised prize money will not only encourage and bring positivity in the ecosystem, but we also hope this structure will ensure more exposure to potential and new talents in the country,” added Shri Ajay Singhania.

In addition to the resumption of tournaments all of the senior and junior national camps will commence from the month of April. 

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