Pune likely to host this year’s Senior National Badminton Championship to celebrate PDMBA’s 75th anniversary

The Senior National Badminton Championship will be held this year after a gap of two years. Pune is likely to host a prestigious domestic tournament. The 84th Senior National Badminton Championship will be held later this year.

Guwahati hosted the 83rd Senior Nationals in 2019 in which Saina Nehwal and Sourabh Verma emerged women’s and men’s singles champions, respectively.

Due to the pandemic, the Senior Nationals have not been held since 2019. However, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) is keen to resume the domestic circuit in a full-fledged manner as all the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted throughout the country.

The Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) has requested that the BAI allot the Senior Nationals to the state.

Confirming the development, BAI general secretary Sanjay Mishra said the national governing body of sports has received an official bid letter from the MBA.

“The Maharashtra Badminton Association has shown their keen interest in hosting the Senior Nationals this year. BAI has officially received their letter during the executive committee meeting held on May 15 in New Delhi. A final decision will be made by the tournament committee regarding the allotment of Senior Nationals to MBA,” Sanjay Mishra told Sportskeeda on Thursday.

The BAI tournament committee is headed by Sekhar Biswas, vice president, BAI, while the convener is Omar Rashid, BAI joint secretary.

BAI Tournament Committee will take the final call on MBA’s bid to host Senior Nationals in Pune: Sanjay Mishra

The 12-member tournament committee is likely to meet soon to make the final decision on MBA hosting the 2022 Senior Nationals. The committee was recently formed to organize various age groups and senior national-level tournaments.

“During the tournament committee meeting, they are also likely to discuss the proposals from many state associations regarding the hosting of various All India sub-junior, junior and senior ranking tournaments," said Sanjay Mishra.

He added:

"The final domestic calendar 2022-23 will be released after the tournament committee meeting. We have received several applications from various affiliated state units bidding to host national-level tournaments. The tournament committee will make the final decision and announce the calendar soon."

The Poona District and Metropolitan Badminton Association (PDMBA) wants to host the Senior Nationals as part of their 75 anniversary celebrations.

BAI treasurer and MBA president Arun Lakhani is optimistic about Pune hosting the 2022 Senior Nationals. (Pic credit: MBA)

We are hopeful of hosting the Senior Nationals in Pune: Arun Lakhani

MBA president Arun Lakhani has confirmed that Maharashtra has asked for the approval of the national governing body to allot the Senior Nationals to Pune.

“The PDMBA which was formed in 1946 has completed its glorious 75 years recently. They want to celebrate this grand occasion by hosting the Senior Nationals. As the MBA president, I have put forward their request to the BAI and I am confident that we will get the final go ahead from the BAI. The tournament committee is expected to make their formal announcement soon,” said BAI treasurer Arun Lakhani.

Under the chairmanship of Arun Lakhani, Nagpur hosted the 82nd Senior Nationals at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur in 2017 in a grand manner. For the first time in Indian badminton history, all the top Indian players, including Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, participated in the tournament.

Pune last hosted the Senior Nationals in 1997. Pullela Gopichand won the men’s singles title at the PDMBA Hall. If the MBA wins the bid, Pune will host the Senior Nationals after a long gap of 25 years.