Tata Open badminton goes international

MUMBAI - Leading shuttlers from Malaysia and Indonesia have confirmed their participation in the $15,000 Tata Open India International Challenge 2010 to be held here Dec 15-25 at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) courts.

The mens singles field includes Alamsyah Yonus, winner of the Indian Grand Prix Gold tournament; Tommy Sugiarto (son of former World champion Icuk Sugiatro); Misbun Ramdan (son of Malaysian great Misbun Sidek) and six other Malaysians, besides entries from Thailand and Russia.

Representing the Indian challenge are Anup Sridhar, Aravind Bhat, Ajay Jayaram and Anand Pawar.

In the womens singles, top Indonesian players such as Ana Rovita and Fransiska Ratnasari will compete alongside Indian champion Trupti Murgunde, Sayali Gokhale and PV Sindhu, the National junior champion.

However, World No.4 Saina Nehwal will be missed as she has opted to take part in the Indian Open starting Tuesday.

The tournament is being sponsored by the Tata group along with Tata Capital while the event will be conducted by the Tata Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA).

Prakash Padukone, former All England champion and director, PPBA, thanked the sponsors for making the tournament an international event.

“Mumbai has not witnessed a good international badminton tournament for a long time and this year we have received participation from young promising players coming from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia,” he said

“I am grateful to Tatas for upgrading this event to an international level, and also to Yonex and CCI for associating with us.”

Announcing the tournament, Atul Agrawal, Vice President-Corporate Affairs, Tata Services Ltd., said: Sports has been an integral part of the Tata way of life and the Tata group endeavours to develop talent by providing a unique platform to Badminton players.

This year we are taking Tata Open to an international level and we are very happy to extend our relationship with the PPBA for the next three years.