Great opportunity for Indians: Lakhani

 

 

IT WILL be a great opportunity for Indian players to score some international rankings points at home, feels Arun Lakhani as Nagpur is all set to host the Maha Metro International Badminton Challenge in the city from September 13. After the stupendous success of Senior National Badminton Challenge that was held in 2017 the Divisional Sports Complex, Mankapur, Nagpur has been entrusted with the responsibility to host the six-day International Badminton Challenge. “Playing international tournaments is very important for players to get international ranking points. The Badminton Association of India (BAI), led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, is very keen to hold these types of international tournaments in India for a variety of reasons. We want the players the play international tournament in their own environment, so that they feel more comfortable. The other important factor is money. Most of the players have financial limitations.

 

 

 

It will save a lot of money for players if such tourneys are held in India rather than abroad. We also want to give maximum exposure to Indian players so that we can have a pool of Sainas and Sindhus. These tournaments (the Nagpur one to be followed by a Raipur leg) were not included in the BWF’s annual calendar but BAI requested for these tournaments and BWF obliged,” informed Lakhani, Treasurer, BAI and President Maharashtra Badminton Association while disclosing the details of the international tournament where budding champions from as many as 12 countries will showcase their best game, during a press conference on Saturday. In the nationals, a lot many city players got a chance to play as BAI allowed wild card entries then. But that is not the case in international events.

 

“The Badminton World Federation (BWF) and BAI have done away with the wild card thing. The players are selected on the basis of merit. Only those players who have international rankings are eligible to take part in the meet. We can do nothing to include more players from the city,” added Lakhani As many as 560 players (112 each event) have been received from 12 countries including India (347), Japan (6), Malaysia, Maldives (10), Uganda (4), Zambia (3), Zimbabwe(1), United States of America (2), Canada (1), Thailand (11), Sri Lanka (5) and UAE (1). The events in the tournament will include men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The officials from BWF including Girish Natu from Pune, Badminton Asia, BAI and MBA will be present in Nagpur for the tournament. Girish Mahajan Minister for Rural Development, Medical Education, Sports and Youth Welfare, Maharashtra State will inaugurate the event in presence of Shrikant Bhartiya, MLC and Sanjay Mishra Secretary, BAI. Nitin Gadkari and Chandrashekhar Bawankule will be the guests for closing ceremony.

 

Sarma, India chief coach Pullela Gopichand, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and a host of MLAs and MLCs of Nagpur District are expected to witness the event. Nagpur District Badminton Association Secretary Mangesh Kashikar and a host of members were present during the presser. bbbbbb Free entry for spectators THE Maha Metro International Badminton Challenge tournament will be free for spectators. Entry will be strictly on first come first served basis. On final day of the Senior National Badminton Challenge that was held in 2017, many could not get a glimpse of their favourite players in action as the house was full well before the finals started. The doors had to be closed and those who arrived late at the venue were left dejected. Those interested must come early to avoid disappointment.