World Open Badminton Championships: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR WORLD OPEN BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

The World Badminton Association, in association with the Badminton Association Of India and the Andhra Pradesh Badminton Association, is organising the Yonex Sunrise India Open Badminton Championships, from 1st to 6th April, at the Indoor Stadium, Gachibowli. 230 players, including 10 of the top 15 players, will be seen in action during the week-long event.

The men's section is dominated by high-ranked players from China, and is headed by world no. 3 Chun Lai Bao of China. There will be 64 players in this section, from China, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, England, Spain, New Zealand and India. India is fielding 10 players - Chetan Anand, Arup Sridhar, Anand Pawar, Sagar Chopra, Arvind Bhat, Jishnu Sanyal, Kashyap, R M V Gurusai Dutt, Ajay Jayaram and J B S Vidyadhar.

In the women's section, world no. 1 Xie Xingfang, 3rd-ranked Lu Lan and 5th-ranked Zhu Lin, all Chinese, are the top three seeds. The draw consists of 32 players from China, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany, Portugal, Austria, USA and India. Saina Nehwal and Trupti Murgunde are the only Indians in this section.

World no. 4 Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae of Korea are the top seeds in the men's doubles, while 5th ranked Taipei pair Yuchin Chien and Wen Hsing Cheng are the top seeds in the women's doubles, and 3rd ranked Hanbin He and Yang Ye of China are the top seeds in the mixed doubles. The Indian pair of Rupesh Kumar and Thomas Sanave in the men's doubles, and Saina Nehwal & Aparna Balan, Jwala Gutta & Shruti Kurien and Ashwini Ponnappa & Nitya Sosale in the women's doubles spearhead the country's challenge. There is no Indian challenge in the mixed doubles category.

The total prize money is US $120,000. This tournament is the last qualifying event for the Beijing Olympics. The entry is free for everyone. Please contact K Ch Punnaiah Choudary, Hon. Secretary, A P Badminton Association, at 94401-59044 for further details.