Super badminton series in city?

The Worli-based National Sports Club of India (NSCI) plans to host a Super Series badminton tournament in April next year.
The club will be hosting the All-India senior ranking badminton tournament beginning on Saturday.

Its joint director, Ashish Kapila said that they will be hosting the event after a gap of eight years and  plans are afoot to host international tournaments at the venue next year.

“The ranking tournament is a big tournament but it is just the start. I believe that the NSCI courts are some of the best in the country. We want to host a Super Series tournament here in April next year and then we want to try for the 2013 World Championship as well,” said Kapila.

Currently, the Indian Super Series takes place in New Delhi and China is the only country which is allowed to host two Super Series tournaments by the Badminton World Federation. Kapila added that right now the club is concentrating on the All-India ranking tournament.

“We have tried to ensure that the rankings tournament that begins from Saturday has some of the best national players participating in it. We already delayed the tournament by a few months because it was clashing with some of the other tournaments.

“A number of top players such as P Kashyap, Anup Shridhar and PC Thulasi will be competing. National champion Aditi Mutatkar and Arundhati Pantawane will also be participating. We are getting Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa to play an exhibition match on the day of the final.”

The tournament has 265 entries for men and 78 entries for women and the total prize money is Rs5 lakh.