The seventh edition of Dorjee Khandu Memorial State Open Badminton Championship-2019 is all set to be held at the Raj Bhawan and MLA Cottage badminton stadiums in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh from September 6-11 next.
It is dubbed as one of the biggest badminton tournaments in the State.
Sponsored by the Department of Sports, the championship, which is being organized by the Arunachal State Badminton Association (ASBA), would witness a total of 332 shuttlers including 80 female and 243 male, from 23 districts of the State.
Besides players from the districts, those from the Sangey Lhaden Sports Academy and Capital Complex would also be competing in the tournament, Bamang Tago, the secretary of ASBA said on Tuesday.
Tago, who was addressing a news conference at the Itanagar Press Club said, “The winners of the championship will get an opportunity to represent the State in the regional and national competitions organized by the Badminton Association of India.”
The championship has been divided into seven categories and includes Under-9, Under-15 and Under-19 boys’ and girls’ (singles, doubles and mixed doubles) events and senior open men and women’s (singles, doubles mixed doubles) events, Tago said.
Where international umpire from Manipur, H Gyaneswor would be the tournament referee, the ASBA would also simultaneously be training the Grade-II umpires of State during the championship, he said.
Replying to a question on lack of proper infrastructure for the shuttlers, Tago informed that the tender for construction of the Dorjee Khandu Badminton Academy has already been floated and soon the players would have all the basic requirements in terms of infrastructure, training and growth.
Taking the opportunity, the ASBA secretary also informed that the top-ranked players from the last edition of the tournament namely Montilly Pul, Taku Neha, Pakli Bagra and Lobsang Choiden Sherdang have been selected by the BAI for an intense 15-daylonhg training that would be conducted at the coveted Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Karnataka.
State’s ace shuttler Laa Talar will, however, be missing the tournament this year as he will be participating in an international tournament scheduled to be held at Delhi.