Nepal is set to host Badminton Asia (South Asia) Regional Championships U-15 and U-17 beginning on Friday at the Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club’s covered hall in Halchowk, Kathmandu.

The event, to be organised by Badminton Asia under the coordination of the Nepal Badminton Association (NBA), will feature five categories each in U-15 and U-17 age groups. Organising a press conference on Thursday, NBA said that the event will feature boys’ singles, girls’ singles, boys’ doubles, girls’ doubles and mixed doubles each in both age categories.

The event will see the participation of players from six South Asian countries—Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives. Each country will have eight players each apart from Nepal who are set to field 16 players in the capacity of the host country.

Meanwhile, South Asia Leader’s Development Meeting, South Asian Women in Badminton Workshop, South Asia Regional Umpires Course and South Asian Junior Training Camp will also be held on the sideline of the championship.

According to Thanabalan Arikrishnan, the senior development manager of Badminton Asia, two players each will be picked from each team for Asia Olympic Project (AOP). “Altogether 20 players from countries that are making progress in badminton will be picked for the project and they will be offered scholarships after the selection match in Malaysia in November,” said Arikrishnan. “The project is organised with the view to make the players of developing nations capable of playing at the Olympics.”

Badminton Asia event manager NG Yein Mun said that the championship was a part of a development programme organised in four different regions of Asia.

NBA president Ramji Bahadur Shrestha said that the event will be helpful in nurturing young talents of the country and giving them much-needed exposure.