Press release
Manipal: The South Zone Inter-University badminton tournament for men and women will be hosted by Manipal University from December 15 onwards, which will be a five days meet.
Seventy teams in the men’s category and Sixty-seven in the women’s category will participate in the event. The inauguration will be done by Badminton Association of India president, Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta, MP at 5 pm at the Marena indoor Sport Complex.
The BAI secretary Dr Vijai Sinha will also be present for the inaugural function.
With regards to the tournament, Dr HS Ballal, Pro Chancellor Manipal University said, “About 70 Universities are expected to participate in the tournament. That will bring around 700 players and officials to Manipal. All arrangements for their boarding, lodging and travel have been made. The players will be housed in the hostels of MIT, as the students will on vacation during that period, and the officials in the guest houses”.
“This is the third South Zone University meet being organized by Manipal University”, he added.
Last year we played hosts to the South Zone and the all-India Inter – Zone Cricket Tournament. Prior to that, we organized the South Zone and Inter-Zone Tennis Tournament.
Manipal University Sports Secretary, Dr Vinod Nayak said that the matches would be played on five courts, three in the Marena Sports Complex and two in MIT. And will be played in two sessions, 8 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 11 pm. In all, a total of 135 matches will be played as per the draw. As three of last year’s semi-finalists in the men’s section have been drafted into the newly formed Central Zone, including runners-up Osmania University, only the defending champions Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin will start their campaign from the quarter-finals.
Periyar University, Salem; Srikrishnadevaraya University, Anantpur; Rani Channamma University, Belagavi; MS University Tirunelveli and VIT University Vellore will start from the second round, while all others will begin from the first round. In the women’s section, Mahatma Gandhi, Kottayam; Jain University Bangalore; Anna University, Chennai and Central University Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram will start from the quarter-finals.
Hosts Manipal and Mangalore are the only universities from the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts.
In the men’s section they have been drawn up in the same half while in the women’s draw they are in separate groups.
Manipal University Teams:
Men: Sidharth Phukan, Pranav Bhagwanani, Ganapathi, Sarthak, Vineeth and Ravi.
Women: Sanika Kapale, Rishika, Raksha Pai and Sankalpa.
Officials: Manager – Dr Navin A Patil and coach – Mr Venkatesh Kamath.
