NEW DELHI: World champions Lin Dan and Lu Lan, Malaysian star Taufiq Hidayat and India’s own Saina Nehwal headline the list of entries in the $150,000 Yonex Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships, presented by Premier Brands, will be held at the newly-built state-of-the-art Siri Fort Badminton Stadium here from April 12 to 18.
The array of stars will make the event the biggest held in Delhi since the 1982 Asian Games. “By organising a number of high profile events in the country like the World Championship in Hyderabad and the World Junior Championships in Pune as well as the India Open every year, BAI has ensured that the fans at home get to see world class competition frequently,” Badminton Association of India President Mr. V K Verma said at a media briefing here today.
“I thank the title sponsor Yonex Sunrise and presenting sponsor Premier Brands for sharing our vision. I am also happy that Longines, SAIL and Central Bank of India have agreed to associate themselves with the event. Needless to say, an event of this magnitude would not be possible without the robust support we have received from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as well as the Organising Committee Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi,” he said.
“The conduct of the Badminton Asia Championships is a step towards ensuring that the rich legacy in our country is sustained,” Mr Verma said. “We have had a number of stars like Nandu Natekar, Dinesh Khanna, Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi and P Gopi Chand. Thanks to a series of wonderful performances by players like Saina Nehwal, Chetan Anand, Jwala Gutta and V. Diju – to mention just some names – the profile of the sport is at an all time high.”
After India qualified for the world team championship finals for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup for the first time in its history, World Badminton Federation has ranked India as seventh. A number of delegates from the World Badminton Federation and Badminton Asia Confederation have been invited for an appraisal of the facilities which may qualify the venue for bigger events in the future. Mr. Verma revealed that China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia and Malaysia would all be fielding squads that exceed 20 players each. “As many as 334 players from 21 nations will compete in the championships that will come to India for only the fourth time and to Delhi for the first time after Hyderabad (1976 and 2005) and Calcutta (1983) hosted the event,” he said.
The men’s singles draw will feature Lin Dan, China’s 26-year-old who has won the men’s singles crown in the last three World Championships and the Olympic Games in Beijing and his arch rival, Taufiq Hidayat, the 28-year-old Indonesian who won the 2004 Olympic Games gold medal, the 2005 World Championships title and has three Asian crowns to boot. Ponsana Boonsak (Thailand) and 2007 Asian Junior Champion Chen Long will increase the intensity in the men’s competition where the Indian challenge will be led by Chetan Anand. The 2002 Commonwealth Games champion and 2009 India Open runner up Hashim Mohammad Hafiz (Malaysia) will also be in action.
In fact, as many as eight of the world’s top 20 men figure in the singles draw. Similarly in the women’s competition, four of the world’s top 10 led by the fifth ranked Saina Nehwal will feature in the competition. China’s reigning World women’s singles champion Lu Lan, Hong Kong’s Zhou Mi who won the bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic Games and China’s Wang Shixian have confirmed participation. Indonesia’s Maria Kristin Yulianti, who won the bronze in the Olympic Games in 2008, will also take part.
The qualifying rounds will be held on April 12 to 13 and competition in the main draw will begin from April 14. The semifinals will be played on April 17 and the finals on the following day. The draw will be released next week. Tickets will be on sale from March 29, 2010. Details will soon be made available to the media. Doordarshan Sport will broadcast live the Badminton Asia Championship every day from April 13, 2010. The competition will be a test event for the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi that will be held in October this year.
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