The Yonex-Sunrise Bangladesh International Open Badminton Challenge 2013, a Badminton Asia Confederation sanctioned tournament, starts on Tuesday at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium. It was announced at a press conference at the Bangladesh Olympic Association on Sunday that 78 men and 22 women shuttlers from 10 countries will take part in the five-event meet, which provides an opportunity for players to improve their ranking and claim a share of the US$15,000 prize pool.
The participating teams are Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, Malaysia and Australia.
Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao, ranked 31st in the world, is the top seed in the men’s singles category. 105th-ranked Indian Subhankar Dey, 156th-ranked Malaysian Yogendran Khirshnan, 165th-ranked Sri Lankan Dinuka Karunaratne and 186th-ranked Indonesian Dharma Alrie Guna are also seeded.
The top seeds in the women’s singles category are 24th-ranked Pai Hsiao Ma of Chinese Taipei, 77th-ranked Indian Saili Rane, 108th-ranked Malaysian Sannatasah Saniru and 126th-ranked Indian Trupti Murgunde.
14 Bangladeshi men – including ranked players Rais Uddin (1227), Saif Uddin (1467) and Anamul Haque (1467) – and four women will take part in singles competition.
‘A political turmoil prevails in the country at this time, but we cannot stop our youth generation to go forward, and this tournament will be good platform for our youth shuttlers,’ said Bangladesh Badminton Federation president Rubaba Dowla of the decision to proceed with the tournament despite the current political climate.
‘We had an inter-ministerial meeting regarding the Bangladesh Open, and Police and RAB will ensure the security of the players on their way to the venue and hotel.’
BBF general secretary Jobaidur Rahman Rana, BAC event manager Christy Goh and sponsor organisation Yonex’s representatives were also present at the press conference.
-With New Age input
