Patna gears up to host National sub-junior and Mini badminton championships from Nov 10

Patna, November 4, 2008
Patna gears up to host the 22nd National sub-junior and Mini National badminton championships to be held at the Secretariat Badminton Hall from November 10 to 16.

Talking to Bihar Sports, Bihar Badminton Association (BBA) secretary KN Jaiswal said the preparations were on full swing to make the tournament a grand success.

He said, all the five courts of the Secretariat Badminton Hall were being given a facelift. All the necessary arrangements for the boarding and lodging of the players had been made, he added.

Giving a brief account of the championships, Jaiswal said, all the winners and runners-up of different events had been given direct entry into the main draws under the direction of the Badminton Association of India (BAI). He said, the under-16 girls’ champion would get the Afsar Ahmad Cup while the winners in the boys’ under-16 champion would receive Narottam Singh Bhalla Cup.

The BBA secretary said the qualifying events would begin on November 10. About 250 players from different State would be vying to get spots in the main draw. The main event would begin from November 12, he added.

List of players included in the main draw:
Sub-junior boys’ singles: B Sai Prantih (AP) and Sameer Verma (AP).
Sub-junior boys’ doubles: Raj Kumar and Pranav Chopra (Pinjab); B Sai Pranith and HS Pranay (AP).
Sub-junior girls’ singles: N Sikki Reddy (AP) and Prajakta Sawant (Maharashtra).
Sub-junior girls’ doubles: N Sikki Reddy and Lavanya (AP); Vaishali and Prajakta (Maharashtra).
Mini boys’ singles: Rohit Yadav and B Sriram (both AP).
Mini boys’ doubles: Rohit and Santosh (AP).
Mini girls’ doubles: PV Sandhu and Manisha (AP); Sudha and Jamuna (AP).

Surti named chief referee

Meanwhile, Jaiswal said TP Surti of Gujarat had been appointed chief referee. R Suresh Kumar of Karnataka would be his named deputy while PC Rao of Andhra Pradesh would be the assistant referee.
These appointments had been made by Badminton Association of India (BAI), he added.

The BBA secretary said the BAI had constituted a tournament committee with Dilip Ghosh (West Bengal), Dr Vijay Sinha (Uttar Pradesh), Syed Iqbal Rehman (Orissa), Prabhakar Rao (Jharkhand), SP Singh (Delhi) and secretary, BAI, LC Gupta as its members.