All India Junior Badminton Tournament from Oct 3

Bangalore, Oct 1 (UNI) More than 450 budding shuttlers will be seen in action in the Union Bank of India All India Promoted Junior Badminton Tournament beginning here from October 3.

The tournament would be organised by Padukone Sports Management under the aegis of Karnataka Badminton Association and Badminton Association of India.

Talking to newspersons here, former All England Champion and academy founder Prakash Padukone said R M V Guru Sai Dutt of Andhra Pradesh and Arundhati Pantawane of Maharashtra, who had won the first two legs held in Kochi and Chennai, respectively, had been given the top billing in boys' and girls' sections.

The prize money had been doubled to Rs two lakh from Rs one lakh offered last year.

He said that the boys' event would be at full strength with the participation of Guru Sai Dutt, Aditya Elengo, Arun Nambaluri and Abhimanya Singh. The girls' event would have Arundhati Pantavane, Ruth Misha, Manisha Vinayak and Thulasi as the front runners.

Guru and Arundhati, were yet to taste a defeat this year.

The tournament was part of the National Junior Tournament circuit and would be considered for ranking by the Badminton Association of India.

UNI