Nearly 250 players from 32 countries will take part in the 2023 Al Sharif Group Bahrain International Challenge badminton tournament which starts today at the Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam (BKS).
The six-day event, organised by the BKS under the patronage of the Bahrain Badminton and Squash Federation (BBSF), is a Level 3 sanctioned tournament by Badminton Asia, the sport’s governing body in the continent, and attracts players from the top 50 world rankings annually.
The men’s singles top seeds are both from Spain, Pablo Abian and Luis Enrique, ranked 65th and 66th, respectively. Indian Sankar Subramanian, the third seed, will be the crowd favourite. Adnan Ebrahim, the Bahraini number one, also finds a spot in the qualifying rounds
The women’s singles top seed is the returning champion, Malavika Bansod. Jenira Stadelmann, from Switzerland, will also be sure to be a crowd-puller.
The men’s doubles will see, for the first time, Irish top seeds in Paul Reynolds and Joshua Magee as well as entries from China, Algeria, Japan, Sri Lanka among others.
The women’s doubles top seeds are Bulgarian Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva with the Chinese pair of Zi Meng Wang and Key Un Ding also sure to feature prominently.
The mixed doubles will see a strong Indian presence with the renowned Sikki Reddy teaming up with Sumeeth Reddy as well as Aadya Variyath alongside Satish Karunakaran. The top seeds are the English pair of Jenny and Gregory Mairs.
After the success of the live stream on YouTube for the entire duration of last year’s tournament with nearly 300,000 people from around the world tuning in, this year’s competition will also be live-streamed on the same website. And more than 5,000 spectators will be present in the stands, just like last year, to watch all the action unfold live.
The tournament will be held at the BKS Diamond Jubilee Hall. Apart from title sponsors Al Sharif Group, other major sponsors include JTJ and TEFCO.
Entry is free.
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