The 29th sub-junior national badminton championship kicked off at Swarnanharati indoor stadium here today.
"Players from 28 states and seven Union Territories and 500 shuttlers are taking part in the five-day tournament," said Badminton Association of India Secretary Ch Punnaiah Choudary.
He said the venues for the U-13 and U-15 boys and girls' matches will be the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation's Swarnabharati indoor stadium and Port indoor stadium.
The event was inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao.
Speaking on the occasion, he said the government has been encouraging sports persons.
"The government recently announced the Sports Policy in which it had announced several welfare schemes for the sportspersons and also reward and prize for them," the minister said.
Rao said that government's aim was to convert the state into a sports hub by providing best infrastructure.
"Visakhaptnam will become a sports centre in AP as the city is having the best infrastructure for sports in form of indoor and outdoor stadia and also an international cricket stadium," he said, adding that government has decided to construct a sports stadium on the lines of Gachibowli in Hyderabad and a sports complex with the help of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Rao said former international badminton player Pullela Gopichand has expressed his desire to establish a badminton academy in the city.
