Nagpur to host Asian School U-18 Badminton Championship in July
April 24, 2018, Pune
The Asian School Under-18 Badminton Championship will be held in Nagpur from July 9 to 14. The School Games Federation of India (SGFI) will organize the week-long tournament under the auspices of Asian School Sports Federation and International School Sport Federation.
The prestigious tournament, which will have the technical support from Maharashtra Badminton Association (MBA) and Badminton Association of India (BAI), will be held at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur. The world-class Mankapur stadium has been finalized as the venue after the SGFI top officials were impressed by the facilities during their inspection visit recently.
The SGFI were allotted World School Badminton Championship and Asian School Championship this year. The World meet is currently being held at the Balewadi Sports Complex near Pune. The finals will be held on Tuesday. Two Indian teams — India ‘A’ and India ‘B’ — are competing in the World tourney.
During the ongoing Pune tournament, the SGFI had an executive meeting where it was decided to hold the Asian School badminton meet in Nagpur. Subhash Rewatkar, the deputy director of sports and incharge of Mankapur’s Divisional Sports Complex, confirmed the news regarding the Asian School Badminton tourney.
“The Mankapur stadium has been chosen to host the premier event. It will be the biggest badminton tournament ever held in the city. Several top school teams from Asian countries will compete in Nagpur. The badminton lovers of the region will get to witness quality display from big powerhouse like China, Korea and Japan,” Rewatkar told TOI from Pune where he is supervising the World School Games.
Rewatkar was one of the key persons who assisted in helping the MBA successfully conduct the 82nd Senior National Badminton Championship at Mankapur in November last year.
“We will start the preparations well in advance for the forthcoming tournament. We will be getting the help from the central and state governments. We have the experience of Senior Nationals with us. We will try to do it better this time. I am confident that those who are connected with badminton will offer their full support for mega event in July,” said Rewatkar.
SGFI, which is the parent body for school sports in India has 32 affiliate members in India and conducts school games throughout the country across all disciplines, will coordinate with MBA and BAI for the smooth conduct of the event in the city.
