Senior Badminton tournament begins on Dec 8

Bangalore, Dec 6: The budding Indian shuttlers including Anand Pawar, P Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram in Men's' section and Aditi Mutatkar, Ruth Misha, Sayali Gokhale, Gayatri Vartak in Women's' section will be in full bloom at the Canara Bank sponsored third All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament beginning here from December eight.

TATA Padukone Executive Director Prakash Padukone, told newsmen here today, that more than 250 shuttlers representing 20 States would compete in the Rs.five lakh event, to be the selection tournament for the Indian team to play in the Thomas/Uber Cup tournement slated for February next year besides the All England, Swiss and German Opens in March.

Anand Pawar, after his stint in Denmark under the legendary Morten Frost, has performed well in the recently concluded Scottish Open beating players in the top 50 in World rankings.

P Kashyap and Anand Pawar are given top billings in Men's Singles, while India No 2 Aditi Mutatkar and Gayatri Vartak, who did well in the Scottish and welsh Open Internationals respectively are expected to pose a threat to seasoned campaigners like Trupti Murgunde and B R Meenaksh.

It may not be easy for Indian top Men's Doubles combination of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar as the newly formed combination of V Diju and Akshay Dewalkar are fully geared up.

The qualifying round will be held on December 8, while the main draw begins from the next day.

UNI