Two senior-ranking badminton tournaments to be held ahead of Asian Games
The Badminton Association of India has decided to organize two all-India senior ranking tournaments as a selection criteria for the Asian Games. India’s top shuttlers are, however, exempted from these tournaments and the second rung of players will be tested irrespective of their rankings.
With the intent of encouraging players in the domestic domain and bringing fresh talent to the Senior Indian badminton team at the Asian Games, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has fixed two all-India senior ranking tournaments in June. These tournaments will be held at Bengaluru (June 12-17) and Hyderabad (June 19-24) and will feature players from all over the country competing for the 5 lakh prize money allotted for each tournament and to earn a place in the big leagues.
The top badminton champions in the country are exempted from this tournament and would play directly at the Asian Games. The players exempted include Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu (women’s singles); K Srikanth, HS Prannoy, B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma (men’s singles); Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (men’s doubles); Ashwini Ponnappa/N Sikki Reddy (women’s doubles); and Satwik/Ponnappa and Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Sikki (mixed doubles).
A five-member committee would be arranged by the BAI to review the selection criteria for these tournaments to ensure that the players are given a fair chance with their skill sets rather than just their rankings
“These tournaments are being organized to give the selectors a chance to see the players in action head-to-head and give them for parameters to judge them rather than just their rankings,” said Anup Narang, the official spokesperson of BAI.Â
“What was happening earlier was there was a lot of confusion over the selection criteria for tournaments, so the BAI is considering hosting such selection tournaments for all future big international competitions,” he added.
The existing selection criteria for the senior Indian badminton team take into account current world ranking, the performances of the players in domestic and international tournaments, the head-to-head results and consistency in the last six months, their physical fitness, attendance in national coaching camps, and their participation in National Championship.
In efforts of recognizing domestic performance, Anura Prabhudesai and Vaishnavi Bhale (women’s singles) were picked by the BAI selection committee based on their All-India women’s singles rankings of one and two respectively. No such criteria
