Udupi (The Hindu): The Udupi District Badminton Association in collaboration with Manipal University and other organisations is organising the 41st Junior National Badminton Championship here from December 11 to 17.

Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, K. Raghupati Bhat, former MLA and general secretary of the association, said that the championship would be held under-17 and under-19 categories.

Nearly 600 seeded badminton players and 100 judges would participate.

The tourney will be held in the four synthetic courts at the district indoor stadium in Udupi and an equal number of synthetic courts at Marena Indoor Stadium in Manipal. It will be held in singles, doubles and mixed doubles categories.

The total cost of hosting this event had been estimated at Rs. 1.2 crore, while the prize money had been estimated at Rs. 6 lakh.

Inaguration

While the inter-state team championship begins on December 11, the tourney will be inaugurated here by Akhilesh Das Gupta, president of Badminton Association of India, at 6 p.m. on December 12. The inaugural function would be preceded by a procession in which 30 tableaux would participate.

The inter-state team championship would be inaugurated at 9 a.m. on Sunday by Ranjan Pai, managing director of Manipal Education and Medical Group at Marena Indoor Stadium in Manipal. Saina Nehwal, professional badminton player, would participate in the valedictory of the championship on December 17.

Since Udupi District Badminton Association was hosting the event, five players from Udupi district – Glaneesh, Glancia Pinto, Samanth Kidiyoor, Neha Harish and Nitin – would get wildcard entry into the championship, Mr. Bhat said.