Coimbatore: Over 1,000 sub-junior shuttlers are competing in the qualifying draw of the Sub-Junior National Ranking Badminton Championship, which rolled out at Bharathiar University in Coimbatore on Tuesday.
Organised jointly by the Tamil Nadu Badminton Association (TNBA) and Coimbatore Badminton Association (CBA) under the auspices of Badminton Association of India, the championship received a total of 1,650 entries for under 13 and under 15 boys and girls in singles and doubles categories.
Several top seeded players including Tamil Nadu’s Sankar Muthusamy, who won the national championship last time, are participating in this tournament. In an encouraging trend, the tournament has more participants from Tamil Nadu with 632 entries. Of them, 268 are from Coimbatore.
Unfortunately, demonetisation and pro-jallikattu protests, which triggered cancellation of several trains in Tamil Nadu, have led to a significant drop in number of participants from other states.
“This year, the championship witnessed a 20 per cent drop in participants from the usual 10 to 15 per cent. Though more entries were made, many dropped out due to the volatile situation in the state. Yet, many players are calling up to confirm their participation late by a day or two,” said K. Swetha, secretary of Coimbatore Badminton Association (CBA).
Demonetisation has also taken a toll on the sponsors for the national tournament. “Unlike previous national tournaments, this event has been stung by severe financial constraints due to lack of adequate sponsors. For instance, the tournament couldn’t provide some essential extended facilities like a physician for players or even a stationed ambulance to attend emergencies. We now managed to have only a doctor on call,” she said
Amid such setbacks, Coimbatore takes pride in hosting the second national badminton tournament within a span of ten months after the senior veteran national badminton tournament, which was held here in March last year.
After the qualifying draw, the main draw will begin on January 29 and the tournament will have prize money of Rs 3 lakh.
More stadiums needed to encourage players: Anbumani Ramadoss
PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, who is also the president of the Tamil Nadu Badminton Association (TNBA), said here on Tuesday that he will urge the state government to provide financial support to set up two more badminton academies in Tamil Nadu.
“The need of the hour is to provide quality infrastructure and coaching at international standards to shuttlers, now lacking in TN. Plans are afoot to set up two academies, one in Chennai and another in Madurai,” he said.
“Once normalcy returns, I will meet CM Panneerselvam seeking land and financial assistance to set up the academies. We require at least two acres of land to build the facility. More indoor stadiums are also required in districts, which can be done only with the support of the government, to encourage talent,” Anbumani added.
The TNBA president also pointed out that the association has been facing severe financial crunch and had to cut short on expenses for tournaments. “There is still no compromise on the quality of the tournament, but say in the place of 1,000 corks, we get to provide only 500 corks for players,” he said.
