The FINANCIAL — In their continuing commitment to support sports, Tata group and Tata Capital, today, announced the commencement of the 2011 edition of Tata Open India International Challenge, at a press conference, in Mumbai.
Tata Open India International Challenge 2011 has been organised by Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy under the auspices of Maharashtra Badminton Association and will get underway at the National Sports Club of India, Mumbai, from December 14 to 18, 2011. The tournament carries prize money of $15,000. Tata Open India International Challenge is part of the international circuit tournaments which earn ranking points for players. Being the Olympic qualifying year, this tournament will play an important role for the participating players to earn points to increase their world rankings and thus increase their chances to qualify for the London Olympic Games, scheduled to take place next summer.
The qualifying rounds of the tournament will be held on December 14, 2011 and the main draw will commence from December 15-18, 2011, with the finals taking place on December 18, 2011. Ryan Tsai Ming Che of Chinese Taipei will be the referee of this tournament.
The 2011 edition of Tata Open India International Challenge has received an excellent response from players from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Austria, Russia and the host country India.
Indonesia, with 24 players; Malaysia, with 18 players, and India, fielding over 50 players, are the strongest contingents.
The men’s singles category will feature players such as defending champion Alamsyah Yunus of Indonesia, Indian national champion Arvind Bhat, Guru Sai Dutt, Anand Pawar, Saurabh Verma, Andre Kurniwan Tedjono and Anup Sridhar amongst others.
The women’s singles category will witness playoffs between top international and national players such as Japan’s Eriko Hirose, Tsz Ka Chan of Hong Kong , India’s young badminton sensation PV Sindhu, national champion Aditi Mutatkar and last year’s winner PC Thulasi.
The men’s doubles category has players of the calibre of world number 26 and Indian national champions, Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar. Young Malaysian and Indonesian combinations will be the dark horses.
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