The three-day West Zone leg of the PNB Metlife junior badminton championship, for players between ages 9 and 15 and hailing from Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, is to be held from tomorrow at the suburban Goregaon Sports Club here.
This is a tournament approved by the Badminton Association of India with the quarter finalists in different age groups qualifying for the finals to be held in Delhi later this month, it was announced at a media conference today.
The winners of the four age groups in boys and girls at the Delhi finals - scheduled from March 23-25 - would be given year-long scholarship to train at some leading badminton academies, said Ashish Srivastava, director (HR) of PNB MetlLife.
"The total budgeted cost for the entire event, including the grand finale, is between Rs 60-65 lakh, which includes Rs 32 lakh as prize money from the zonals to the finals," said Srivastava, who is also the director of Delhi-based Sara Foundation under whose initiative the tournament is held.
The seedings in under 13 and 15 (as per BAI rankings):
Boys: Under 13: Tanishq Saxena (Mumbai), 2. Ameya Khond (Nashik).
Under 15: 1. Rohan Gurbani (Nagpur), 2. Pranava Jain (Mumbai).
Girls: Under 13: 1. Aarya Deshpande (Satara), 2. Tasnim Mir (Mehsana).
Under 15: Simran Singh (Mumbai), 2. Smit Toshniwal (Nashik).
