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Another good news for the Indian sports lover. Come April 26 and India will witnessed top notch players from the world’s badminton fraternity competing in the $500,000 India Super Series Badminton Championship. The mega event to be held at the Siri Fort Indoor stadium from April 26 to May 1, 2011 will be the first ever super series to be held in India.
Nearly 220 players from 16 countries comprising of the top 32 Men’s, Women’s and Double’s will participate in the competition spanning nearly a week. Siri Fort indoor stadium which showcased the badminton event during the Common Wealth games last year will be the point of action where the likes of Saina, Diju, Jwala, P. Kashyap etc will battle the best badminton players of the world for glory.
It was last year in May when Indian Open, which was was granted a Super Series status for a three-year period starting this year. Till then a grand prix event, the tournament staved off the challenge from Swiss Open to bag the honour, riding on the support it got from non-European countries in the World Badminton Federation (WBF) Executive Council meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The BWF Superseries is a 12 tournaments series designed to attract the top 32 players from around the world and finally competing in the BWF World Superseries Finals for the top 8 players and pairs in the Superseries points standing. India Super Series Badminton Championship is the fourth Super Series of the year.
Meanwhile with Chinese players not participating, National Coach P. Gopichand is hopeful that Saina Nehwal will come out a winner as she will be the top seed and clear favorites.
“She will start as the top seed and also as a clear favourite. She is fit and is high on confidence after the Swiss Open title and hopefully will have a good tournament,” said Gopichand, who was here in the capital to launch the Indian Open series.
Speaking about India’s chances in mixed doubles, the former All England Superseries Champion said it will all depend on how V.Diju plays. “V Diju has a bit of a problem with his back but should be fine before the tournament. If he plays well, they (Diju and his partner Jwala Gutta) can pull off a victory,” he said.
