New Delhi. The 69th Inter-Zonal and 78th Senior National Badminton Championship 2013, sponsored by ATS Infrastructure Limited, has attracted the who’s who of Indian badminton including London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and world championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu and will be played at the Siri Fort Sport Complex here from December 16-23.

The championship is being hosted by Delhi Capital Badminton Association, under the aegis of Badminton Association of India with Yonex Sunrise as the official equipment partner and co-sponsor for the event.

"Almost every top player in the country have confirmed their entries for the Nationals and we are confident that the tournament will be a grand success," said Apinder Sabharwal Organising Secretary.

Speaking about their association with the Nationals, Getamber Anand, CMD, ATS Infrastructure Ltd said, “Badminton is a growing sport and we believe our association will only encourage more and more sponsors to come and associate.”

The growing popularity of the sport can be gauged by the high number of entries received for the tournament, which will witness 333 players vying for the five coveted titles and a total prize purse of Rs 10 lacs.

Donning the favourites crown along with Saina would be Malaysia and Macau Grand Prix winner Sindhu, who would be keen to regain the national crown after faltering in the final last year due to knee injury. She will, however, face stiff challenge from the likes of Sayali, P C Thulasi and others.

In the men's singles, defending champion P Kashyap will face strong challenge from the likes of Thailand GP Gold winner K Srikant, Ajay Jayaram, Youth Olympics silver medallist H S Prannoy. Also worth watching will be the performance of upcoming players like Sameer Verma, junior national champion Aditya Joshi and Harsheel Dani among others.

On behalf of Delhi Capital Badminton Association (DCBA), Harish Ahuja also the Organizing Secretary welcomed the association and thanked all the Sponsors and Yonex Sunrise for being a support to the sport.

The qualifying rounds for the individual events would be held on December 16-17 and the main draw tournament would be played from December 20. The Inster-state team championship will be held on December 18 and 19.

The men team championship is also known as Rahimtula Cup which was won by PSPB while Womens’ team Cup is called Chadha Cup was also won by PSPB.