Ever since Saina Nehwal won the bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics, badminton has seen skyrocketing growth in India. Riding on that wave, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has allotted several major tournaments to India.
The country’s governing body, the Badminton Association of India (BAI), organises these BWF tournaments every year, which sees participation from top-ranked players.
So here are the BWF badminton tournaments organised in India.
India Open
The India Open has been the top badminton tournament in the country since its inception in 2008. Initially, the BWF categorised the event under the Grand Prix Gold level.
Three years later, the tournament made it to the BWF Superseries events, with the status remaining till 2017. As the global body restructured its tournament system in 2018, the India Open became part of the Super 500 level under the World Tour series.
But now the competition is part of the Super 750 level, with the BWF upgrading the status in 2023. The India Open is just one of the six Super 750 tournaments, offering prize money of US$950,000.
The BAI organises the India Open every year in January at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. Many Indian badminton players and top-ranked international players have featured in the tournament.
Syed Modi International Badminton Championships
In 1991, the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association established a top-level tournament in honour of Syed Modi. He was a former Indian shuttler who won the national championship eight times and a gold at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in the men’s singles category.
The Syed Modi Badminton Championships was a national tournament for over a decade before it went international in 2004. Five years later, the BWF accorded the event a Grand Prix status.
In no time, the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships saw participation from Indian and foreign shuttlers. In 2011, the BWF decided to promote the event to the Grand Prix Gold category.
In 2018, the competition saw its inclusion in the BWF World Tour circuit along with the India Open, though under the Super 300 level. Now, the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships takes place every year in November-December at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow.
Guwahati Masters
The Guwahati Masters is a newer addition to the BWF calendar. The tournament debuted in 2023, with the BWF sanctioning it as a Super 100 event.
This is the second BWF Tour Super 100 event allotted to India after the Odisha Masters. Guwahati’s Saru Sajai Indoor Sports Complex hosts the tournament in December every year.
The inclusion of a new tournament in the BWF’s structure shows India’s growing stature in the world badminton circuit.
Odisha Masters
The Odisha Masters is another recent entry in BWF’s events, having started a year earlier than the Guwahati Masters. The Indian state of Odisha is turning out to be an emerging sports hub in India.
And their commitment towards hosting a major international badminton tournament proves it further. The BAI has been organising the Odisha Masters since 2022, with the BWF categorising it under the Super 100 level.
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