Badminton Stories: Importance of junior leagues

Junior championships or State level leagues are the need of the hour. They provide a platform for youngsters to showcase their talent and get one step closer to their dream.

All the kids, all the parent's dream of getting themselves or their kids to the topmost class that is possible, but only a few would make it.

India is a country where sports is fast becoming a career option for many. People are looking to other sports other than cricket, thanks to people like PV Sindhu and Neeraj Chopra. Who have braved the odds and achieved monumental in their fields and gave hope to others.

Badminton is one such sport in India that has gained immense popularity in the last ten years. Mainly because of the number of athletes breaking onto the international stage and sustained well against the competition. But for any athlete other than the talent they need a good facility, proper support, and the right training to hone, and an opportunity to display their talent.

One such initiative was done in 2014 in the form of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) that capitalised on a massive player and fan base in the country and transformed the sport from a popular pastime to a commercial powerhouse.

PBL is a fantastic platform for junior badminton players to gain practical knowledge as the lucky few who get picked into the squad get an amazing chance to hobnob with the world’s best.

But to get more shuttlers to make it big on the international stage we need competitive leagues at the lower levels such as state-level leagues where the state association will get an opportunity to assess their athletes and implement developmental programs to improve the sport in that state.

PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Sai Praneeth, and Srikanth have been great servants of the sport in India, with more of these competitions we can hope that we can have many more junior shuttlers making it big on the world stage.