To give the exposure to the talented players of Vidarbha districts, Nagpur District Badminton Association (NDBA) is organising Vidarbha-Level Badminton Tournament for the first time at RTM Nagpur University's Subhedar Hall from September 20 to 24.
The NDBA has organised the state-level tournaments in Nagpur for several time but this is for the first time an exclusive tournament for Vidarbha shuttlers will be organised.
Talking to Lokmat Times NDBA secretary and the senior vice-president of Maharashtra Badminton Association Mangesh Kashikar said, " We have identified that there are several talented players at district-level. The shuttlers in some districts hardly get an opportunity to compete in the tournaments. Therefore, we have floated an idea of Vidarbha-level tournament. I am thankful to Raisoni Group for sponsoring the tournament. We are also thinking to make it a regular feature", he said.
Kashikar informed that along with Nagpur the players from Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Wardha and Yavatmal districts are eligible to participate in the tournament.
" We are expecting around 20 to 25 shuttlers from each district and total around 500 entries are expected from all parts of Vidarbha", Kashikar said.
Total 29 events including Under-9 boys singles and doubles, Under-11 boys and girls singles, Under-13 boys and girls singles and doubles, Under-15 boys and girls singles, Under-17 boys and girls singles and doubles, Under-17 mixed doubles, men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles, mixed doubles, men's singles above 35 years, men's doubles above 35 years, women's singles above 35 years, women' s doubles above 35 years, mixed doubles above 35 years, men's singles above 45 years, men's doubles above 45 years, men's singles above 55 years and men's doubles and above 55 years.
The organising committee of the tournament includes chairman of Raisoni Group Sunil Raisoni, NDBA president Kundatai Vijaykar, project director of GH Raisoni Sports and Cultural Foundation Mruunalini Naik, NDBA secretary Mangesh Kashikar, vice presidents Shriram Purohit, and Amit Bajaj, treasurer Anant Apte, Gurdeep Singh Arora, Sneha Faizpurkar, Bhavesh Deshmukh and Madhavi Hedaoo.