Deepankar Sharda
Chandigarh, January 5
Shuttlers participating in the ongoing Yonex-Sunrise All-India Junior (U-19) Ranking Badminton Tournament are setting an example for the entire nation by giving ‘unexpected’ performances.
Three days have passed and the results of a majority of the matches are decided after three-set battles. Notably, the players, who sailed into the main draw round, played five matches to advance further. Playing five matches in qualifiers is something unusual and it happened due to crushing number of entries. Usually, a badminton tie (in qualifiers) takes around 25 to 30 minutes. However, here, a majority of the qualifying matches were played for around 50 to 55 minutes.
The local association also gives two-hour prior access to the courts to all players so that they can prepare for their respective matches or get familiar to conditions.
“It’s a good sign for the country. The number of entries received clearly depicts the craze for badminton, while a tough competition among youngsters is a proof of passion among them. Even we are amazed by observing the matches. The players are giving their best and every match is turning to be a neck-and-neck tie. This is something unusual, but in positive terms,” said Surinder Mahajan, general secretary, Chandigarh Badminton Association (CBA), and joint secretary, Badminton Association of India (BAI).
On Thursday itself, around 142 matches (till the filing of this report) were played. A majority of the matches went into three sets. The condition was similar in the past two days.
“Considering the selection of Indian teams for Netherlands and Germany tours, this is again a positive sign. Tough competition means we will have a good batch of players to select. Also, weather conditions here are near to similar in Netherlands and Germany, which will also help the selected players to get used to the conditions,” said Mahajan.
UT’s Sarthak in next round
Chandigarh’s Sarthak Madaan logged an easy 15-13 15-9 win over Haryana’s Reyansh Verma to move into the next round of boy’s U-19 category.