Domestic badminton season under new format from December

NEW DELHI: Indian badminton players will get back to competitive action after a gap of nearly 20 months when the domestic season gets under way with back-to-back senior-ranking Level 3 tournaments next month.

The season will commence in Chennai with the first tournament from December 16 to 22, followed by another Level 3 tournament in Hyderabad from December 24-30.

Both events carry prize money of Rs 10 lakh each, and are part of the Badminton Association of India's (BAI) new domestic format, which was approved in 2019 but due to the pandemic, was not introduced earlier.

The senior ranking tournaments are classified into three levels: Level 3 — BAI Series Badminton Tournament (six in a year), Level 2 - BAI Super Series Badminton Tournament (four in a year), Level 1 — BAI Premier Super Series Badminton Tournament (two in a year).

With a prize pool of Rs 2.2 crores for the domestic senior-ranking tournaments, Level 3 category tournaments are the preliminary events carrying a prize money of Rs 10 lakh, while Level 2 tournaments, to be played twice, have a purse of Rs 15 lakh each followed by a Premier tournament with a prize money of Rs 25 lakh.

Then there's the National Championships, with a prize purse of Rs 50 lakh. Apart from being financially lucrative to the players, the aim of the format is to make the domestic circuit increasingly competitive by allowing more players to break into the main circuit. (IANS)

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