Chief Minister Inaugurates Syed Modi India International Badminton Championship

• 01 Dec 2023

Why In News?

On November 28, 2023, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the Syed Modi India International Badminton Championship-2023 at the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Academy.

Key Points:

• Organised by the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association (UPBA) under the aegis of the Badminton Association of India (IBA), the prestigious tournament will run till December 3, 2023.
• 2 lakh US dollars (about 1 crore 75 lakh rupees) will be at stake in this competition.
• Around 250 shuttlers from 19 countries will fight for titles in men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.
• The tournament was started by the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association (UPBA) as the 'Syed Modi Memorial Badminton Tournament' in memory of Commonwealth Games champion Syed Modi in 1991.
• From its opening until 2003, it remained a national level tournament. In 2004 it was organized as an international event for the first time.
• The tournament was halted from 2005 to 2008 due to the political standoff between the UPBA and the Uttar Pradesh government, which ended with the transfer of the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Academy.
• The tournament was introduced to the badminton circuit in 2009 as a BWF Grand Prix event. Since then the tournament is being held annually at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow, though in 2010 it was temporarily shifted to Hyderabad. In 2011, it was upgraded to the Grand Prix Gold event.
• The Badminton World Federation included this tournament as a BWF World Tour Super 300 event in 2017, the competition of which started in 2018.