Ashwini, Sridhar felicitated
Badminton :State players honoured for good show in Natls
State badminton players Anup Sridhar and Ashwini Ponnappa were felicitated for their achievements in this year’s National championships at the Karnataka Badminton Association Hall on Wednesday.
Anup, who lost the men’s singles final in Guwahati to Chetan Anand, was presented with a cheque of Rs 15,000 by KBA secretary NC Sudhir. The 27-year-old former national champion -- he won two national titles -- was also conferred with the honorary membership of KBA.
“Anup has been given honorary membership for his consistent performances in national and international meets over the years,” said Sudhir.
Ashwini, the winner of the women’s doubles crown with Jwala Gutta, received Rs 10,000. “It was my first major senior title and I give a lot of credit to Jwala for that victory. I am looking forward to winning more titles with her,” said Ponnappa.
On his preparations for the Indian Open Grand Prix beginning in Chennai on June 8, Anup said, “I just want to take one match at a time. It is a tough tournament but I am fully fit and expecting to produce a strong performance there.”
KBA’s Badminton Development Committee chairman U Vimal Kumar expressed satisfaction with last season’s development works and said KBA would continue to work for the betterment of the sport in the State.
“We are planning to rope in a badminton development officer who can go to districts and rural areas and supervise the progress of development work there. We will also conduct coaching clinics for coaches and for that, we will invite a foreign coach associated with the Badminton World Federation,” said the former player.
Bangalore will host the ninth UBI Junior all-India ranking tournament from June 25 to 30, the inaugural BNDBA all-India Senior-ranking tourney from July 16 to 20 and the second NPL all-India Senior-ranking meet from November 26 to 30 at the KBA courts.
The State Junior championships will be held in Shimoga from September 15 to 18 and the State Senior meet is scheduled for Sept 22 to 25 at Bellary.
State-ranking meet
The Super Sports & Events’ 5-Star State-ranking tourney for boys and girls will begin at the KBA courts on Thursday. The three-day meet will have competitions in the mini (under-10), midget (U-13) and Sub-junior (U-16) categories.
