India to host world's biggest badminton extravaganza

The biggest global badminton tournament, classified as the only test event in the calendar year of the International Olympic Association, will be staged at the state-of-the-art Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad with over 50 countries participating in it.
"We are proud to be hosts to the biggest global badminton event. With our proven records of successfully managing premier events of the sport in the past I am sure that the BWF had all the right reasons to nominate us as the hosts to the World Badminton Championships 2009," VK Verma, President of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), said.

"As the Indian youngsters create ripples in the global stage of the sport, this event will definitely be a big boost for many aspiring superstars and also for the present contingent to showcase their talents and performance levels in front of a huge global audience," Verma said.

India, of late, has become a popular venue for elite badminton events, hosting the World Junior Championships 2008 and the Grand Prix series twice in 2008 and 2009. The country will also host the Asian Championships next year.

Incidentally, the only other test event in the next calendar year of the IOA before the 2010 Commonwealth Games is the men's field hockey World Cup, again to be hosted in India in New Delhi.

Verma said India was aware of the importance of both the events and would do everything to make them roaring success.

"To host events of these statures we need to have our infrastructure and technology in place in accordance to the norms of international standards. The fact the Badminton World Federation and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has nominated India as the hosts to its biggest global event makes it quite evident about India's readiness to stage the Commonwealth Games 2010," he said.

Former player Prakash Padukone also welcomed the development and said it could not get bigger for Indian badminton.

"There could not have been a better opportunity for India and the players other than hosting and competing against the best in the world, in the World badminton championship at this stage.|

"This will help us know our players' capability under the pressures of playing against the best. Being hosts to this premiere event we get a wild card entry for the tournament hence performance of the team in this championship will give us a fair idea of the future work required to be done before we approach the CWG 2010," he said.