NEB Sports,which was associated with the India Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, has pulled out of its Rs 60 lakh commitment.
NEB Sports, the sports management company which was associated with the India Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament to be held in Hyderabad in March, has pulled out of its Rs 60 lakh commitment.
Confirming this, Punnaiah Choudhary, Joint Secretary of Badminton Association of India (BAI) and head of the tournament organising committee, said they are now trying to find three or four other sponsors to fill the gap. “Everything else is on track,” Choudhary said. “Yonex is the title sponsor, and they have already paid $120,000.”
NEB had associated itself with the World Junior Championships in Pune last year, and Choudhary said they “could not even fulfil 25 per cent of their commitments because the market was slow. This time at least they informed us in advance.”
Choudhary dispelled rumours that the World Badminton Championships, due to be held in Hyderabad from August 10 to 16, were going to be cancelled due to the withdrawal of sponsors.
“There are two tournaments that are being held as trial events for the Commonwealth Games,” Choudhary said. “These are the World Championships in August this year and the Asian championships the next year, three months before the Commonwealth. So, most of the expenses will be borne by the grants from the Commonwealth Games committee. Yonex has promised
us Rs 1.5 crore for the World Championships.”
A five-member committee from the Badminton World Federation will be visiting Hyderabad on Wednesday to study the lodging and security for players and officials.
Rumours that the World Championships in India would be cancelled first surfaced during the Korea Open Super Series in January. When DNA spoke to BAI President VK Verma at the time, he dismissed the reports. “The World Championships is on track,” he said at the time. “There is no truth in these rumours.”
The India Open is a high profile event on the circuit. In 2008, several top players were part of the action, including women’s world No.1 Zhou Mi. However, this year, the top Chinese have reportedly withdrawn and have decided to send a second-string team.
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