India’s Ace Shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa announced on Wednesday the maiden/first ever exclusive women’s double tournament in the country which will goes by the name of ‘Red Bull Shuttle UP’.
Amid much popularity, say its viewership (fifth most viewed) or the participation (second most played), the tournament projects to further promote and boost up participation and popularity amongst women shuttlers.
The tournament Red Bull Shuttle UP is scheduled to be held in five different cities including Delhi, Bangalore, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
As in the reward, the winning pair of the tournament will have an opportunity to play against the best badminton players in the country which is Ashwini Ponnappa and her partner.
While commenting on the development, Ponnappa said: “My dream is to create awareness and promote doubles badminton in the country. More job opportunities for doubles players, more exposure for tournaments, and prize money on par with singles will motivate youngsters to focus on doubles and take it up seriously.
“Things have definitely changed over the years, today’s youngsters are definitely focusing and switching to doubles at a younger age. We now have specialist coaches just for doubles and that has helped improved the standards of play.
“There is a better understanding between partners and many youngsters are taking up doubles from an early age, which is a great sign. Many Indian doubles pairs have reached semi-finals and quarterfinals in previous tournaments, which is a clear indication that we are heading towards the right direction,” The Red Bull athlete added.
The tournament exclusively meant for women only of age 16 or above, all matches will be played in knock out mode where all pairs will play a best of 3 sets carrying 11 points unlike traditional one which carries 21 points in a set.
At the end of the tournament, six winning pairs from all six different locations will qualify for the national finals as well as 1 lucky losing pair.
The pair which loses a final but scored the maximum number of points in the match will be counted as lucky losing pair.
In case of 2 teams tied on the same number of points, the same from the previous round will be considered. (IANS)
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