The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : All-India junior tournament from today

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Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005

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All-India junior tournament from today

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The fourth edition of the Union Bank sponsored all-India junior-ranking badminton championship gets underway at the Karnataka Badminton Association Stadium here on Wednesday.

The championship, which is being conducted by the Prakash Padukone Sports Management, under the auspices of the Karnataka Badminton Association and the Badminton Association of India, has a record 600 entries in eight events.

Top juniors, including members of the Indian squad that recently took part in the ABC junior championships at Jakarta, figure in the championship.

The main contenders here include the National junior girls' champion and senior runner-up Saina Nehwal, P. Kashyap, Amit Khadgi, Ajay Jayaram, Aparna Balan, Sayali Gokhale and Anita Ohlan.

Unlike in the past, when there were 16 events, the organisers have now reduced the events to eight and confined the championship to under-16 and under-19 age groups.

"We have dropped the under-10 and under-13 competitions. It is a tremendous burden to conduct matches in the under-10 and under-13 age groups given the new BAI directive that top players in all sections should be provided hospitality and travel allowances. The organisers face this problem not only in the Union Bank tournament, but in all other junior tournaments and we have asked BAI to reconsider its decision," said Prakash Padukone.

Padukone also said that the Bangalore tournament and the one that follows in Pune would be deemed as a selection tournament to name junior India squads for international events.

He also said that the Union Bank tournament would be a dress rehearsal for the KBA and the Padukone Sports Management as they are scheduled to conduct the next senior Nationals in Bangalore in January 2006.

Karnataka tops the list of entries with 70 players, followed by Andhra Pradesh (49) and Maharashta (44).All qualifying round matches are to be played on Wednesday and the main draw begins on Thursday and the finals are slated for July 23.

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