PNB MetLife Junior badminton Season 2 kicks off

The second edition of PNB MetLife Junior Badminton Championship kicked off here today with the addition of five new cities to host regional matches and a new U-17 category for both boys and girls.
Owing to the overwhelming response received for the first season, new cities such as Chandigarh, Lucknow, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Chennai have been added to host regional matches along with New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
Moreover, a new category U-17 has been introduced along with U-9, U-11, U-13 and U-15 for both boys and girls. Every city will select top four kids from each category and they will qualify for grand finale.

With close to 1200 applications for the first leg of the tournament in Delhi, the best and brightest young badminton champions will convene for the pinnacle of competition in their age groups.
After Delhi, the league is set to get under way in Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, Guwahati. The feat would shift back to Thyagaraj stadium in Delhi for the semi-finals and finals starting March 30, 2016.
Ten children and sixteen underprivileged children across different age-groups will win scholarships for training in a reputed Badminton Academy.

Below are the Qualifying results:
Last year's U-9 winner, Neer Nehwal, top seed in boys singles U-9 and third seed in U-11, dominated with 11-1, 11-4 against Atik Malik and 11-6, 11-6 against Rohan Aggarwal.

Last year's girls U-9 winner, Vartika Singh from Uttarakhand, is top seed in U-9 and 4th seed in U-11. Vartika breezed through her initial round by defeating Vidushi Jaidka 11-8 11-1 in girls' singles U-11.
Manraj Singh, top seed boys U-11, defeated Anmol Bhutani 11-8, 10-11, 11-6.
Top seed in boys U-13, Shubham Patel beat Ashu Bhardwaj in straight sets 11-9, 11-3.
Unseeded Nikita defeated Aditi Bhatt (2/3 seed) 15-11, 15-13 in girls' singles U-15.