Top Maharashtra badminton tournament receives record 628 entries as the sport makes a comeback in state

The Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) has made a major announcement. The Nandu Natekar Memorial Yonex-Sunrise Maharashtra Senior State Open Badminton Championships will be held in Nagpur from February 27 to March 2.

The four-day tournament, which will be played at the Divisional Sports Complex, Mankapur, will mark the return of badminton to Maharashtra for the first time since 2019. Several international badminton players will be participating in this event.

Due to their having been no badminton competition in the state for the last two-and-a-half years, the organizers Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) have received a record 628 entries.

For the first time in Maharashtra badminton history, the number of entries for a senior state tournament has exceeded 600. Men’s singles event has received the highest number of entries - 307.

The huge number of entrants has shown how keenly the shuttlers of the state were waiting for an event such as this. The previous record for highest number of participants in a Maharashtra badminton tournament for senior players was around 350.

Since badminton tournaments are resuming after a long interval, most of those who are eligible to play are looking to make an appearance. Several sub-junior and junior level players are also participating as they have been out of action for a long time.

World No. 77 Ritika Thaker (R) and Simran Singhi will be the top seeds in the women's doubles. (Picture: Rahul Thaker)

Maharashtra badminton tournaments resuming after gap of 30 months

Maharashtra is perhaps the only state in the country that has not conducted a single official badminton tournament in the last 30 months.

The last edition of the Maharashtra Senior State Open Badminton Championship was held at the District Indoor Hall in Parbhani, way back in August 2019. Thereafter, due to the onslaught of COVID-19, badminton activities in the state came to a standstill.

Mangesh Kashikar, Secretary (Events) of MBA, blamed the COVID pandemic and the resultant restrictions for non-conduct of any tournament in the last 30 months.

"Due to strict government guidelines, we have not been able to organize any badminton tournaments in the last two-and-a-half years. I know there were several other states in the country that conducted badminton tournaments in their respective states when the Covid protocols were slightly relaxed and cases were low.

"However, in Maharashtra, we failed to hold any tournament because of the government's rules and regulations,” Kashikar explained.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has conducted four international tournaments and also organized three All India Ranking tournaments in the last four months. But due to the moratorium on badminton events in Maharashtra, many players got frustrated and several of them left the game. Some of them felt that there was a lack of encouragement from the MBA.

“Hundreds of Maharashtra badminton players were deprived of playing any tournament because there was no such serious effort by the state officials. We approached Maharashtra Badminton Association president Arun Lakhani and Mangesh Kashikar to resume badminton activities in the state on several occasions. But there was absolutely no encouraging response from top MBA officials to hold any kind of tournament in the state,” said the parent of a talented shuttler who did not want to be named.

Many parents have even joined together to form a ‘parents association’ in their bid to restart badminton activities in the state.

Matches to begin at 8 AM on Sunday in Nagpur

The draws and schedule of the tournament in Nagpur have been declared and the matches are scheduled to start at 8 AM this coming Sunday. Union minister Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate this prestigious Maharashtra badminton tournament.

All the Finals will be held on March 2. State sports minister Sunil Kedar will distribute the prizes after the Finals on Wednesday. Kashikar made the announcement during a press conference held on Friday.

Total entries: 628

Total players:541

Number of players in all categories

Men’s Singles: 307

Women’s Singles: 107

Men’s Doubles: 134

Women’s Doubles: 25

Mixed Doubles: 55

Seedings

Men’s Singles

1. Arya Bhivpathaki

2. Abhishek Kulkarni

3. Rishabh Deshpande

4. Gaurav Rege

5. Rushikesh Hole

6. Saurav Chhutlani

7. Sankalp Gurala

8. Rohan Gurbani

Women’s Singles

1. Neha Pandit

2. Purva Barve

3. Charuta Vaidya

4. Vaidehi Choudhari

5. Shruti Mundada

6. Riya Habbu

7. Ananya Durugkar

8. Hrissha Dubey

Men’s Doubles

1. Deep Rambhiya-Vighnesh Devlekar

2. Akshan Shetty-Pratik Ranade

3. Akshay Kadam-Aniruddha Mayekar

4. Viplav Kuvale-Viraj Kuvale

Women’s Doubles

1. Ritika Thaker-Simran Singhi

2. Akshaya Warang-Harika Veludurthi

Mixed Doubles

1. Pratik Ranade-Akshaya Warang

2. Vighnesh Devlekar-Sanyogita Ghorpade

3. Akshan Shetty-Simran Singhi

4. Deep Rambhiya-Ritika Thaker.