The newly formed Indian Badminton League and its commercial partner, Sporty Solutionz, have launched the Indian Badminton League School Programme (IBLSP) to promote badminton across India.
Under the programme, players such as Saina Nehwal, Pullela Gopichand, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, Parupalli Kashyap and PV Sindhu will be visiting 120 schools across India in six cities. The programme, called ‘Shuttle Express’, will offer an incentive of Rs 10 lakh in prize money to the winners in both boys and girls single events, which will be held in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Lucknow and Pune, it stated in a release. The finalists will also get the opportunity to train at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.
The League officials said the programme will take place in three phases to scout talent through intra-school competition in July, while the national finals will be held in Mumbai in August. The IBL School Partners include Genesis Global School, Expressway (Delhi NCR), Indus World School (Hyderabad), La Martiniere Boys (Lucknow), Jamnabai Narsee, Juhu Parle (Mumbai), Symbiosis Primary & Secondary School (Pune) and Jain International School (Bangalore).
Akhilesh Das Gupta, President, Badminton Association of India and Chairman IBL Governing Council, said, “As a former player who benefited enormously from an active school environment for badminton, I’m confident that Shuttle Express will provide a great platform and opportunity to thousands of badminton-loving children to fulfil their aspirations and motivate them to take the sport as a career.”
IBL will be held in six cities from August 14 to August 31 and will feature top players in the world. The League will be telecast live in more than 100 countries.