NEW DELHI: The Badminton Association of India has announced that BAI will be conducting two senior ranking meets from April.
The return of badminton to the country for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last summer. has been made keeping in mind the India Open, beginning in New Delhi on May 11.
BAI came to the decision during its executive committee meeting that was held in Guwahati on Saturday. All the affiliated state unit members had joined the meeting virtually. The April tournaments, for which the venue is yet to be decided, will be the first ones to fall under new a tournament structure. The revamped structure (senior level) comprises of three levels (Level 1, 2 & 3) and a total of 12 tournaments will be held in a year, New Indian Express reports.
There is no change in structure at the junior level for now. The fact that the country is scheduled to host the India Open (subject to Covid), a World Tour 500 event, meant BAI thought it would be prudent to start domestic meets, which will give them a platform to prepare for the bigger event.
“It’s been a long time. We are really hopeful about getting things started. Let’s see how the coronavirus situation is then (April). When we get the chance to conduct the tournament, we’ll get a fair idea of how to go about things. Then we have the India Open. After that, we will continue to conduct other domestic meets,” BAI general secretary Ajay Singhania told the daily.
The two tournaments that have been proposed for April are Level 3 tournaments. Level 3 meets carry a prize purse of Rs 10 lakh. Senior national championships fall under Level 1 category and carry a prize purse of Rs 50 lakh. According to BAI, the April meets will feature both qualifying and main draw. There is no entry restriction in the qualifying draws and a total of 32 players in singles and 16 doubles pairs can earn main draw spots through qualifiers.
The main draw will comprise of 64 singles and 32 doubles pairs. Alongside resumption of tournaments, BAI has also decided to resume all the national camps for senior and juniors shuttlers from April.
