Country’s heeds on next Junior’s tournament

The country’s attention is shifted towards the most promising shuttlers, as the 26th Smt. Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior Ranking Prize Money Badminton tournament started from 13 November. Chandigarh’s Panjab University Indoor Stadium will stage the huge event where the fresh badminton talent will be witnessed.

As the participation in the tournament is also considered for the selection in the Indian team to participate in the international events, the event is recorded with the registration of 1600 entries.

In the U-19 girls section, Purwa Barve, Amolika Singh, Unnati Bisht, Kanika Kanwal, Aswini Bhat and Malvika Bansod are some of the star names, while Ritika Thaker and Gayatri Pullela - her first tournament after the World Junior Championship - will play for the U-17 title with the prize money of Rs 3 lakh-prize money.

Seeded boys to play in U-19 tournament are Jaswanth D, Kiran George, Abhishek Saini and Adithya BG, while fast rising Dhruv Rawat, Sathish Kumar, Amit Rathore, and Mohit Gory in the U-17 Boys singles contest. Doubles player Rutaparna Panda who remained the junior spotlight at the Senior Nationals, will be seen playing in the mixed doubles U-19 event with Krishna Podile.

All the qualifying matches of girls will be played at the Panjab University and Boys matches will be played at Badminton Hall, Sector 43, Chandigarh, while the main draw matches will be held at the Panjab University, Sector 14.

Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker, Shruti Mishra and Samriddhi Singh will be the names to look ahead in the girls doubles, while Sourabh Kerhalkar - Deep Rambhiya, Vishnuvardhan Goud P - Sri Krishna Podile in doubles for U19 boys crown.

Junior rankings tournament play important role as they root the talents in the sport to the international level. The Krishna Khaitan Memorial has been promoting junior’s badminton through the Express Shuttle club for over two decades now, and completes a decade of its presence in Chandigarh.

It is an excellent opportunity for the singles and doubles as well, as India is looking forward to extend from singles to doubles.