Mangaluru: The south zone open badminton tournament “Golden Shuttle Cup 2016” was inaugurated on Thursday, November 24 at the U S Mallya Indoor Stadium in Mannagudda. The tournament will run till 27 November at the same venue and will have participants from five states of South India.
With hundreds of participants in various categories under the age group of 19 years, the three-day tournament was inaugurated in the presence of Dakshina Kannada DC Dr. K G Jagadeesha, President of Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industries Jeevan Saldanha and former Mayor of Mangaluru City as well as present President of Dakshina Kannada Cricket Association Mahabala Marla.
Passing on a message to the contestants about sportsmanship, Dr. Jagadeesha explained how badminton could be a good workout as well as a fun sport. Mahabala Marla addressed the gathering and shared his love for sports.
After the inauguration and delivery of speeches, the dignitaries got down into one of the badminton courts and played a gist of the game on a symbolic note so as to declare the tournament open.
The inaugural day was dedicated to the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district level tournaments for five categories which are for participants below 19 years of age. The daylong matches for boys and girls in singles and doubles categories, “Under 10”, “under 13”, “under 15”, “under 17” and “under 19” started at 7.30 in the morning. All the four courts inside the stadium were used for the tournament.
Badminton enthusiast Dan Sanctis who was present at the venue, spoke to News Karnataka and said that the inaugural day tournament was just a warm-up for the south zone open tournament scheduled to begin the following day. “Some of the best badminton players will be participating in the open tournament and it will be worth watching”, he added.
The South Zone open tournament will begin on Friday, November 25. Men’s singles and doubles will be conducted on 25 November while women’s singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, veteran men’s doubles (above 45 years of age) and open men’s doubles (above 35 years of age) will be conducted on 26 November. A total prize money of Rs. 3,84,00 has also been announced by the organisers.