World senior badminton in Kochi from Monday

Nearly 700 player from 40 countries will participate in the championships which will be held at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

Kochi will host the Manorama BWF World senior badminton championships from September 11.

The Manorama BWF World senior badminton championships will make their India debut at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Monday. Competitions for men and women in singles and doubles in eight age categories, beginning with over-35 years, will be held in the week-long event.

“This is the first time India is hosting the Senior Worlds and nearly 700 players from 40 countries, apart from 500 officials, will be here for these championships,” said S. Muralidharan, the event’s organising secretary and vice-president of the Badminton Association of India, here on Saturday evening.

Competitions will held on 12 courts and all the finals will be held on September 17, the concluding day. Sweden last hosted the Senior Worlds in Helsingborg in 2015.

Vijay Goel, the former Union Sports Minister who is currently Minister of State for Parlimentary Affairs, will inaugurate the championships on Sunday evening but the matches begin on Monday.

The Badminton Association of India’s special general body meeting will also be held on Monday and Hemanta Biswa Sarma, the president of the association, will chair the meeting.