Indian open badminton in September 2007

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Hyderabad, July 19: About 300 shuttlers from 40 countries will take part in the 150,000 dollars Yonex-Sunrise Indian badminton open to be held here from September 4 to 9, 2007.

Talking to mediapersons, former All England champion Prakash Padukone said, ''this is part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic qualifying event. Our players Chetan Anand, Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal should utilise this opportunity to climb up in their world ranking.'' He said players from Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Denmark, England and host India will participate in the tournament. He hoped that Indian players would get good exposure against these world ranking players.

Commenting on Indian players' inconsistency, Padukone admitted that with the introduction of a new format, it would be difficult even for a top 10 player to maintain consistency.

The others all England Champion Pullela Gopichand said the mega event will an annual feature. He also hoped that Indian players would become part of the Super Series in future.

UNI