New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS): The sixth edition of the Junior Badminton Championship (JBC), witnessed the record-breaking and highest-ever participation of 8000 plus shuttlers from the 12 states with 118 players crowned as champions, the organisers said on Wednesday.
The organisers of the JBC, sponsored by PNB MetLife, got the recognition from the World Record Certification Agency (WRCA) for creating a world record for "Most Kids Participating in a Badminton Championship in Multiple Cities."
The announcement came after WRCA authenticated the information for Junior Badminton Championship, which was held from August-October 2022 across 12 states in India, with 8031 participants. The final leg of the sixth edition of the tournament culminated at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium with the crowning of 10 badminton champions across five categories for the Delhi chapter of JBC.
In addition to these winners, organisers also awarded runners-up and the top two semifinalists for each category both in the boys' and girls' groups. Over 850 skilled shuttlers from across Delhi impressed with their performance.
In the girls' singles U-17 category, Angelina Valsan defeated Tiya Dabas with a score of 15-11, 10-15, 15-14 in the final to emerge winner. In the boys' singles U-17 category, Daksh Mathur defeated Devang Tomar with a score of 15-11, 15-14.
Two-time Olympic medallist and brand ambassador of PNB MetLife, P.V Sindhu along with Ameeta Sinh, President of Delhi Capital Badminton Association and Ashish Kumar Srivastava, MD & CEO, PNB MetLife Insurance awarded the winners.
"The event is really good, I am sure it will shape up the sport, especially because this tournament will give the confidence and motivation to a lot of youngsters to play and grow further. This kind of tournament should be organised every year and this time the event set a record which is a big thing," Sindhu told IANS in the national capital.
"I hope these youngsters show the same excitement and keep playing more and more tournaments. Definitely, we are going to see a lot of youngsters, who will represent the country and win a lot of medals," she added.
JBC was organised in 12 cities -- Mumbai, Bangalore, Surat, Lucknow, Ranchi, Indore, Chandigarh, Thrissur, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Guwahati, and Delhi, this year and a total of 118 young shuttlers have been named winners in the tournament across the five categories: U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15 and U-17.