Celebrating the spirit of sport
With an aim to nurture talent and revive the spirit of sport, PNB MetLife, one of India’s leading life insurance companies, recently organised the Delhi leg of the fourth season of the Junior Badminton Championship (JBC).
As many as 1,119 skilled shuttlers from across the city impressed the audience with their performance, and the final day of Delhi leg of the tournament brought out top 16 shuttlers from the city.
Nipun Kaushal, chief marketing officer, PNB MetLife, said, “JBC, as a tournament, has grown to become one of the biggest annual national openplatforms for young badminton enthusiasts. Delhi has given us a tremendous response, with more than 1,100 participants. I want to congratulate the winners who showed such passion in their performance. We wish them all the best for the upcoming grand finale in the Capital.”
The winners, Shivam Memhta and Muskan Sangwan (in the U-15 category) were felicitated by the chief guest Shrikant Bakshi, a former international badminton player, and a Thomas Cup player. “We’ve reached the last leg of the PNB MetLife Junior Badminton Championship and would like to congratulate the organisers and participants for a stellar show. If the Delhi leg of the tournament is to be taken as a case in point, then we can look forward to a nail-biting finale. We hope such tournaments will encourage people to start playing badminton,” said Bakshi.
PNB MetLife has partnered with CRY Foundation as a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) partner for this initiative. The objective is to use sports as an effective medium of empowerment for children, and hone their talent, thereby fostering their growth and ability to perform on a global scale.
This year, the tournament covered 10 cities: Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Kochi, Lucknow, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Delhi. The matches were played in four age categories – Under-9, 11, 13, and 15 for boys and girls.
The grand finale is scheduled to take place on August 9 in Delhi.