SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 11: The Jharkhand Badminton Association (JBA) has announced that the State Senior Badminton Championship will be held from October 17 to 20 at the Dumka Indoor Stadium in Dumka.
This is the first time a state badminton competition is being held in Jharkhand since the outbreak of the corona epidemic. Last year, no badminton championships in any age category were held in the state due to the pandemic (2020). Jamshedpur hosted the state championship the last time it was held in 2019. The first championship after Covid will be held in Dumka.
The champion and runner-up of all five competitions, including men’s and women’s singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, will get cash prizes, according to JBA General Secretary K Prabhakar Rao. The winner of both the men’s and women’s events will receive Rs 21,000, while the runners-up will receive Rs 11,000 each.
Similarly, the winner of the men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles categories will receive Rs 11,000, while the runners-up will receive Rs 5,000.
“Only those players who have a Badminton Association (BAI) ID card will be able to compete in this competition. Players in this competition would receive points for zonal and national tournaments,” said K Prabhakar Rao, who is also the Joint Secretary of BAI and the Chairman of the Paralympic Badminton Association of India.
Under-19 championship at Hazaribagh
The Jharkhand Badminton Association has also announced that the state championship for Under-19 would be held at Hazaribagh from October 22 to 24. The deadline to enter the championship is October 14. Rao said interested players should contact JBA Treasurer Ravi Shekhar Singh or Jashveer Jaggi, General Secretary Hazaribagh Badminton Association and Joint Secretary of State Association.
“There are five events in the under 19 championship: boys singles and doubles, girls singles and doubles, and mixed doubles,” said K Prabhakar Rao. He went on to say that no event would be held unless there were at least six people who wanted to participate.
The decision to start the championship in the state has been well received by the players. “We were nervously awaiting the news of the championship date because Covid had wiped out our one-year age. We could have played in the under-19 event, but now we’ll have to play in the senior event,” stated a Dhanbad player.
