Saudi Arabian Badminton Federation

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The Saudi Arabian Badminton Federation is an organisation that holds regular tournaments or aides in organising badminton tournaments throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Contents

[edit] Tournament formats

The tournament formats are similar to the tour formats followed in world tennis and badminton. All the tournaments held are invitational in nature and players can play in any designated flights or "difficulty levels." These flights range from the sixth to the Premier flight. The Premier flight consists of some of the best players in the kingdom. A player on winning one flight is not allowed to play in the same flight in the next tournaments.

Most of these tournaments only consist of men's and ladies' doubles and mixed doubles. Some of the invitational tournaments hold singles competitions as well.

[edit] Tournament venues

Most of the tournaments held are in the Saudi Aramco townships spanning throughout the kingdom. However almost all the tournaments are held in the regions surrounding the cities of Dammam and Al Khobar. The Aramco venues include the townships of Ras Tanura, Dhahran, Udhaliya and Abqaiq.

The Aramco open tournaments are not held directly by the BFSA but follow the rules and regulation of the BFSA and also follow similar player seeding.

The other prominent badminton tournaments held in the kingdom are THE RIYADH OPEN, which is held in the International Indian School, and the FEDERATION OPEN, which is held in the International Indian School, Dammam.

[edit] Riyadh Open

The Riyadh Open is an annually-held tournament in the capital of Riyadh. This tournament also adheres to the format, rules and regulation of the BFSA. The Riyadh Open holds singles competitions for men and women, but it does not conduct mixed doubles competitions.

[edit] The Federation Open

The Federation Open is the flagship tournament of the BFSA. It is held annually in the city of Dammam. This is the only tournament held under the direct control of the BFSA. A player is allowed to choose anyone of their calibre as partner without pre-conditions. It is considered the most prestigious of all the tournaments held in the kingdom and gets considerable media coverage as well.

The open consists of singles and doubles competitions but does not consist of mixed doubles competitions. The open also boasts of participation from prominent Indian, Pakistani and Bahraini internationals. They are, however, not allowed to compete in the regular flights and have an exclusive flight reserved for them.

The tournament has seen the likes of former India no. 1 Pullela Gopichand and former great Prakash Padukone. Other prominent players who participated in the Federation tournament are Jaseel P. Ismail, Chethan Anand, Rupesh kumar, Sanawe Thomas, THomas Kurian, Arawind Bhat, Vincent Lobo, Anoop Sridhar, Sachin Ratti, Rohan Castelino, Arjuna award winner Abhin Shyam Gupta, Markose Bristow, Jaison Xavier, Wajid Ali, Ahsen Qamer, Suneet Sebastian, Upul Fernando, Rashad Khan etc.

[edit] Prominent players

The best players in the kingdom play in the premier flight. The doubles winner from one tournament has to change playing partners for the next tournament or open. Almost all players in these tournaments are from the large South Asian Diaspora living in the kingdom. Bahraini internationals also play in the premier flight; they, however, are not frequent participants. They are the only professional participants of these tournaments. The majority of the players competing are of the amateur or semi-amateur status.

  • None of these tournaments award prize money. The winners and runners up are awarded with trophies.

[edit] List of prominent premier players

  • George Puthenmadhom (BFSA President)
  • Deric Gonzales
  • Benny Mathew
  • Eapen Mathews
  • Sanel Paul
  • Hashim Haleem
  • Renin Wilson
  • Rehan Asfond
  • Hamza Yousef
  • Mohammed Baig
  • Jhoel Morales
  • Nelson Mauricio
  • Narvic Jumpay
  • Edison Belle
  • Patrick Eboa