The Syed Modi International tournament in Lucknow will become a Grand Prix event from this December. Confirming this, P Venugopal, events manager of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said the BWF has approved the Badminton Association of India’s request to upgrade the tournament and make it part of the Grand Prix circuit.
The meet was initially an All India tournament in memory of the eight-time national champion, which was upgraded to an International Challenge event in 2004.
This means that the tournament will now offer a prize money of at least $50,000 and 5,000 ranking points to the winners. In contrast, the International Challenge offers 4,000 ranking points and a minimum of $15,000. A Grand Prix attracts better international competition.
Speaking to DNA on the sidelines of the India Open GP Gold, Venugopal said despite the recession, the BWF had been receiving requests from several countries to host GP events.
“Nobody has cancelled an event, although the sponsorship scene has been slow,” he said. “Most of the sponsors in Asia are electronics majors and the recession has definitely affected them. But the Super Series circuit has been unaffected — in fact, we have got fresh requests from Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia to host a GP. Only the Philippines Open is uncertain.”
The year-end Super Series Masters, held for the first time in Kuala Lumpur in December 2008, hasn’t yet been assigned to a venue. India can offer to host it, provided they cough up a million dollars — $500,000 for prize money, and $500,000 for administrative costs.
“Apart from that, the Super Series circuit will remain in its current format. There won’t be any changes until 2011,” Venugopal said.
