Badminton body tweaks home tourney structure

New Delhi, Feb. 10: In a major revamp, the Badminton Association of India on Monday announced the introduction of a multi-level domestic tournament structure, which will have a combined prize money of approximately `2 crore.

“The Badminton Association of India has decided to revamp the domestic tournament setup in order to have a performance-oriented approach and to find the best talents from across the country,” the national federation said.

The revamped structure will have three levels of tournaments — Level 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

The highest level, Level 1, will come with a `25 lakh purse. The BAI Premier Super Series Tournament which will have restricted entry with main draws only.

In a league-cum-knockout format, top eight singles players in BWF rankings and top four pairs in BWF rankings below 100 will be eligible for direct entry. Besides, top 24 singles players and 12 teams as per BAI rankings will also get direct entry.

The senior national championships will also have more incentive for players as the total prize has been raised to `50 lakh for the winner. Earlier, the full purse for the event stood at `1 crore.

In Level 2, four BAI Super Series Badminton Tournaments will be held, which will have `15 lakh as prize money for individual events.

The top 48 singles players and 24 doubles pairs, as per BAI rankings, will get direct entry into the main draw.