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The Odisha Open 2022 proved to be a major success story on its debut this year. The third tournament of the Indian leg was conducted successfully last week.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) had allotted three back-to-back tournaments to India, including the Odisha Open. The Indian Open in New Delhi marked the beginning of this year's international tournaments in India, which was followed by the Syed Modi tournament in Lucknow.
All eyes were on the Odisha Open after the Indian Open and Syed Modi tournaments as Cuttack was hosting a major badminton event for the first time.
Despite some minor issues regarding COVID-19, the tournament went off successfully, much to the satisfaction of the Odisha Government and Badminton Association of India (BAI).
After successfully organizing its first BWF event, the Odisha government is going to make this badminton tournament an annual event.
The Odisha Open BWF World Tour Super 100 tournament was played from January 25 to 30 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Cuttack.
One of the major achievements of the Odisha Open was the success of Indian shuttlers. Out of five titles, Indian shuttlers managed to win three which underlined the domination of the hosts.
The Sports and Youth Services Secretary, Odisha government, R Vineel Krishna, said:
“Odisha has big plans for the development of the sport of badminton and Odisha Open 2022 has encouraged and inspired us. It will be an annual event and next year we hope to host it on a larger scale.”
"This is the first time Odisha has hosted an international badminton tournament and it is a matter of great pride as badminton is amongst our priority sports," added Krishna.
Odisha hosted the National Sub-Junior Badminton Championships in 2019
The 33rd National Sub-Junior Badminton Championship was held at Bhubaneswar from December 17 to 22, 2019. Over 500 budding shuttlers from 33 states from across the country participated in the week-long tournament. It was the most major national-level tournament in the history of Orissa in recent years.
Vineel Krishna said:
“Over the last few days we have seen some brilliant performances from the young shuttlers and it shows that the future of badminton is in good hands. I congratulate each and every winner and wish the very best to all the players of this tournament for their journey ahead."
The Odisha sports secretary thanked the BAI, BWF and Odisha State Badminton Association for bringing this tournament to Odisha. BAI general secretary Ajay Kumar Singhania was also full of praise for the organizers and hoped it would boost badminton in Odisha in a big way.
He said:
“The tournament witnessed great badminton action and the infrastructure here is excellent. More so, the 14-year-old Indian shuttler Unnati Hooda winning gold, among others, is not only great news but also a great advertisement for the growing footprint of the sport in the country. I am confident that in the coming time more badminton events can be staged here.”
On behalf of the state government, the Sports secretary felicitated officials who contributed to the successful completion of the 2022 Odisha Open.
