Gangtok, Nov14 (IANS) The 49th Junior (U-19) National Badminton Championships got underway here on Saturday, marking a significant milestone for Indian badminton as the tournament becomes the first national championship in the country to feature an all-women panel of chair umpires.
A total of 17 umpires from across the country have been selected to officiate at the prestigious national championship. These umpires were selected after assessing their performances at the All India Ranking Tournament (u-15/u-17) held in Jaipur earlier this year.
The Inter-State team event will be played over two days, with the individual events starting on November 16th.
The Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs, Raju Basnet, said, “It’s a great honour for all of us to have participants from all over India in this beautiful and wonderful state of Sikkim.”
Highlighting the significance of the all-women chair umpiring panel, he added, “With an all-female team of umpires officiating this tournament, Sikkim is at the forefront of women’s empowerment, and this is just another step forward.”
Explaining the reason behind the initiative, Badminton Association of India (BAI) Secretary General Sanjay Mishra said, “This is an important step towards encouraging more women to take up officiating at the highest level. Our objective is to create a larger pool of qualified and experienced women umpires in the country and provide them with opportunities to officiate at major national events.”
“This initiative will also inspire more women to pursue umpiring as a career,” Mishra added.
Organising Secretary Sukanta Das said hosting the U-19 Nationals for the first time in Sikkim was a matter of immense pride, with the tournament also giving the state an opportunity to be part of a historic moment in Indian badminton. On behalf of Sikkim Badminton, we have immense gratitude to the Chief Minister, Shri Prem Singh Tamang (Golay), for his wholehearted support and for extending state-event status to the championship. “It is a matter of great pride and happiness for Sikkim to host the U-19 National Championships for the first time. It is even more special that the tournament is creating history with an all-women panel of chair umpires,” he added.
Maharashtra, Haryana advance to semis
Badminton action on the court saw formidable outfits like Maharashtra girls and Haryana boys registering comfortable wins in their opening clashes.
In the girls’ event, Maharashtra packed off Assam 2-0 while Haryana boys got the better of their counterparts from Maharashtra with an identical scoreline.
Uttarakhand boys and girls defeated host Sikkim in both the events to advance to the last four stage.
–IANS
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