Kochi to host World Senior Championships

Kochi, a major port city on the <g data-gr-id="23">south west</g> coast of India, will host the World Senior badminton Championships in 2017, BWF said on Friday.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) had bid for the 2017 World Senior Championships in May last year.

BAI vice-president S <g data-gr-id="30">Muralidharan,</g> said his national association was "delighted" to be awarded the World Seniors and assured that "all who come in 2017 will have sweet memories from Cochin".

All five categories of the sport's men's singles and doubles, and women's singles and doubles, and mixed doubles  are held in the age category of +35, +40, +45, +50, +55, +60 +65 and +70 during the event.

Meanwhile, BWF also said that the World Junior Championships will be held in three different continental confederations over the next three years with Spain and Indonesia hosting the event in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

BWF awarded the 2016 and 2017 tournaments to Bilbao, Spain, and Yogyakarta, Indonesia on Thursday.

As this year's tournament is set for Lima, Peru, in November, the decision by BWF Council underlines its commitment to the global spread of its Major Events, with the sport's upcoming stars touching down in Pan America, Europe and Asia in successive years.

"We want to continue spreading badminton globally and on Friday has given us another opportunity to do so by choosing three different locations for two of our increasingly popular events," said BWF President Poul-Erik Hyer.

 "The last World Seniors attracted 900 competitors, ranging in age from mid-30s to over 70, and it's growing all the time. At the other end of the spectrum, we have our budding stars of on Saturday who are already proving how dynamic and competitive they are on <g data-gr-id="32">court</g>.