THE Bahrain Open Badminton Club Championship will be taking place from June 16 to 29, organisers announced at a Press conference held yesterday at Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam (BKS).
The event is being run by the Bahrain Badminton and Squash Federation (BBSF) in association with BKS.
It is the first-ever inter-club championship being held in the GCC, and it is being sponsored by Optima Home Appliances.
The tournament will be conducted as a team championship over three levels, depending on the skill level of the players.
Clubs from across the GCC are eligible to participate. Teams competing in level one may include two professional players from anywhere in the world.
Each team must consist of seven men and one woman. Each level will play a round-robin, to be followed by the semi-finals and finals.
A tie between two teams will consist of five matches, including one men’s singles match, three men’s doubles and one mixed doubles.
Matches in levels two and three will be held up until June 26, with the finals of both events scheduled for the 28th. Level one matches will take place from June 27 to 29.
GCC champion Heri Setiawan and Arab champion Jaffer Ebrahim will represent the BBSF. Most of the top players in the Gulf, namely Suneeth Sebastian, James Varghese, Munawar, Arun Vijaykumar and Manoj Sahibjan are all participating in representing different teams.
Some top players from India will also be playing in level one, including Sanave Thomas, V Diju, Sai Praneeth, Akshay Dewalkar, Arun Vishnu, Tarun Kona, Aneesh K A.
Awarded
Prize money of BD1,000 will be awarded to the winners of level one and BD500 to the runners-up. The winning teams of levels two and three will be awarded BD250 each, while the runners-up get BD100 each.
Clubs interested in taking part may submit their entries until June 11. Entries may be sent by email to ashley.bbsf@yahoo.com with the name of the team, contact person and his or her telephone number, and the names of players.
Entry is free of charge.
Twenty-four teams have already registered for the tournament.
Meanwhile, the BBSF is also conducting two other events along with this tournament.
The Badminton World Federation Shuttle Time programme will be held from June 22 to 29 at the Shaikh Isa Sports City in Riffa.
Shuttle Time is a camp for teachers and coaches that will help them hone their skills and expertise.
A badminton umpires’ course will also be held from June 23 to 26 at BKS.
For more details on the clubs championship and the umpires’ course, call tournament director Ashley George on 36500103.
For more details on the BWF Shuttle Time programme and other badminton activities in Bahrain, call BBSF development manager Jaffer Ebrahim on 33007600.