The badminton scene in Goa is in for a big boost with the launch of ‘Pro Badminton League’, a Team Championship event, featuring 8 Elite Teams from the different corners of Goa.
The championship will be inaugurated at the hands of Mr. B.S. Bassi, Director General of Police and Shri V M Prabhudesai, Executive Director, SAG on 19th November at 6.30 pm. The League Championship is the first of its kind to be conducted on a Professional level in Goa and will be held in the Indoor Stadium at Campal, Panaji. The Championship Finals are scheduled on 22nd November at 5.30pm. The League is organized by Panjim Badminton Club and supported by the Sports Authority of Goa and the Goa Badminton Association. With the National Games 2011 in sight, the League has been initiated to help young budding Goan sportspersons compete at the highest level and to rope in the necessary Corporate sponsorships which the Sport is lacking. Eight Elite Teams representing the various ‘Corporate houses’ and Major Sports Clubs of Goa will compete against each other in a League format. The best Badminton Players from the State will feature in each of these 8 Teams. The Champions will receive a purse of Rs 20000/-, the Runners-up Rs 15000/- and the 2 semi-finalists Rs 7500/- each, in addition to glittering trophies. Several promising player and special prizes will also be awarded. Following is a List of the Teams (Players mentioned therein are requested to report at the Indoor Stadium on the 19th at 6.30pm): 1. Fomento Flamingos Floyd Araujo – Captain, Rahul Chandrashekar, Chinmay Kamat, Navneet Nasnodkar, Roopchand Humrasker, Candido Dias and Supriya Kuchelkar Kenkre. 2. Margao Warriors Sandeep Kanji – Captain, Yash Angle, Sanath Kamat, Kamlesh Kanji, Vinayak Kamat, Cancio Mascarenas and Anura Prabhudesai 3. Ponda Shuttlers Sudhin Kuvelkar – Captain, Sharmad Mahajan, Sohan Kelekar, Pradip Prabhu, Anurag Prabhu, Kunal Savordekar, Pradip Dhond and Anushka Kuvelkar. 4. PBC Golden Eagles Sunny Sawant- Captain, Pranav Silimkhan, Sumukh Sawant, Parag Chauhan, Darwin Barretto, Ajay Gupta, Narahar Thakur and Vaibhavi Kalangutkar. 5. Mapusa Gladiators Pankaj Naik – Captain, Aniket Shenoy, Krishnaraj Gawas, Krushnan Naik, Manoj Humrasker, P.K.Gupta, T.S.Sawant and Sonali Gaonkar. 6. Royal Panthers Vishal Vernekar- Captain, Pratit Naik, Dhruv Angle, Nikhil Fulari, Wilfred Jaques, Peter Teles, Ramnath Shetgaokar and Riya Kosambi. 7. Panjim Challengers Luciano Soares- Captain, Yatish Devidas, Vaibhav Shetye, Dr Sumeet Kaisare, Rajaram Kundaikar, Anil Paigankar, Dr Borkar and Pranjal Chimulkar. 8. Mallya Riders Rakesh Mallya – Captain, Pramay Mainkar, Ishaan Vernekar, Chandrashekar, Ashok Menon, Pradosh Silimkhan, Arnold Rodriges and Reshma Sukhtancar. Yours sincerely, Sandeep Heble, Secretary, PBC
