All National Ranking Badminton tournaments till March 2022 to be considered as selection event for trials

New Delhi, November 23, 2021

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Monday announced that all the age category domestic tournaments to be played till March 2022 will be considered as selection events for trials.

Players' participation in the coming senior and junior tournaments has been made mandatory and their performance will be considered ahead of the trials for the Senior and Junior National Coaching Camp; for participation in BWF International Tournaments and finalization of Tops Elite and Development Groups.

The domestic badminton season is starting with two All-India senior Ranking tournaments in Chennai and Hyderabad next month after a gap of almost 20 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. These tournaments will be followed by junior tournaments for U-15, U-17, and U-19 in Panchkula in January followed by the third senior ranking in Chhattisgarh in March.

“Because of the pandemic, domestic badminton could not take off for almost 20 months, and gauging performance of players based on National and International ranking alone doesn’t seem to be the best fit in the current circumstances," said BAI General Secretary Ajay Singhania.

"Our objective is to conduct transparent tournaments and trials and ensure a proper evaluation of players’ performance and their fitness levels are reviewed every six months, so that, fresh and deserving talents also get the opportunities to be part of the camp as well as the TOPS list of players,” he added.

BAI will also create a reserve list of elite and junior players who can be prepared subsequently with an eye on creating bench strength as well as replacement to the main list of shuttlers if needed.

NNN