The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : BAI plans to invite foreign players for National tournaments

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 29, 2004

Sport

Sport - Badminton

BAI plans to invite foreign players for National tournaments

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MAY 28. The Badminton Association of India plans to invite a select band of players from South East Asia to participate in a few National events in the country. The move should improve quality of participation and rekindle the interest of some of the top players in the country, who had been skipping National tournaments, according to chief national coach, U. Vimal Kumar.

Vimal Kumar said: "I mooted this idea of inviting some of the up and coming youngsters, who are knocking at the senior ranks in their countries, for our National tournaments, so that our players have better competition at home. There has been a disturbing trend of some of the leading players, skipping the local tournaments and preferring to play abroad. But not all our players can afford that luxury and hence we thought of getting players from abroad to play our tournaments. BAI has okayed the proposal and we will soon get to see some of them in action here."

To begin with, the Syed Modi Memorial all-India ranking championship, scheduled to be held at Lucknow from December 9 to 12, which carries a prize money of Rs. 8 lakhs, is likely to feature foreign players and that is likely to be followed by events in Jamshedpur, Surat and Mumbai. "The calendar is in a state of flux and the BAI has to fix the dates and ensure that the players, invited, get to play in at least three or four tournaments and the logistics have to be worked out and BAI should not stretch the venues too far. It is unrealistic to expect a player to take part in an event in Lucknow and then travel all the way to Mumbai next. Invitations need to be sent in advance. All these things should be firmed up first," said Vimal Kumar.

The foreign players should also benefit from playing in these tournaments, as most of them carry good prize money. "Though our tournaments do not carry points for international rankings, the prize amounts are good enough for them to play here," said Vimal Kumar.

Camp for Indian juniors

Meanwhile, the Indian junior camp for the junior ABC Championship, scheduled to be held in Seoul in July, began at the SAI (South Centre) in Kengeri. The 25 strong probable list is likely to be pruned down after a series of competitions in May-July and the final squad will be finalised by June end, for the championship, according to coach Sanjeev Sachdeva.

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