Dubai: Some of the world’s top badminton players including Olympic medallists will be in action during the Badminton Asia Singles Championships at Al Nasr Club from April 25-30.
Almost 300 badminton players from 28 countries, including seven singles and 12 doubles pairs from India, will be contesting for the continental supremacy at Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Hall. These players will be competing in five events featuring men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles. There will be a main draw and qualifying draw in each of these categories. This tournament is graded based on the BWF points system for the BWF World Tour Super 1000 KhiladiX.com-sponsored event.
Chance for regional talents
The continental championships will be contested by top teams like China, Korea, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei. Players from many regions teams like Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Iran will also get a chance to showcase their talents on the international platform.
Dubai had also hosted the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships in February, where most of these stars were gunning for team honours. For the first time in the history of the championships, India made their way into the semi-finals. India lost 3-2 against the defending champions in a high-voltage clash to claim their first medal in the continental championship. China defeated South Korea 3-1 to defend their 2019 title with ease.
Team India will be led by two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu, Prannoy H.S., Kidambi Srikanth, Saina Nehwal, Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj, Chirag Shetty, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand among others. Jolly and Gayatri must be having some happy memories of Dubai after producing stunning comebacks to keep India in the hunt.
Interesting matches
Moosa Nashid, Secretary General of Badminton Asia, said: “Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world, and we could feel the impact it had created in this region when we hosted the event last time in February. Our association with the local authorities, organisers and partners has been wonderful and we cannot wait for this big event to begin. We will have many interesting matches and look forward to welcoming a bigger crowd this time.”
The championships, being held under the patronage of Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, have a lot to offer. Local fans are also excited about the young and energetic host team of UAE that gave some promising performances last time.
The event is Powered by Floki and Sobha Realty, the Platinum sponsor, is organised by Badminton Asia and UAE Badminton Federation. The championships are supported by Dubai-based leading sports management consultancy Beyond Boundaries.
