Pune News : Senior National Badminton Championship kicks off in Pune
The Yonex-Sunrise 75th Inter State-Inter Zonal Badminton Championships team event kicked off at the badminton court of Pune’s Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi on February 23. It will be followed by an individual event of the 84th Senior National Badminton Championships on the 24 February. Top-ranking players like HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth are set to participate in the week-long event.
The first day of the championships saw seven teams facing each other in the quarterfinal round of the Inter State-Inter Zonal meet, followed by the seminal matches being played in the evening.
Teams of Manipur and Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) defeated their respective opponents in both quarterfinals and semi-finals and will go against each other in the title match. The winning team of the event will be awarded a prize money of Rs. 5 lakhs, from the total prize amount of Rs. 10 lakhs.
Apart from Prannoy and Srikanth, the individual event will also see the participation of B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, doubles specialist Chirag Shetty, defending singles champion Sourabh Verma, and Gayatri Gopichand. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu will not be a part of this year’s championships.
The senior nationals are being held after a gap of two years due to the pandemic. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has increased the prize money to Rs. 50 lakh for the individual championships.
Stay tuned to Pune Pulse to get all the updates from the championships.
Rishikesh Malkhede
