Badminton News: National Champions appeals for financial help

Reigning national champion Sourabh Verma has appealed for financial help, which will enable him to play more international tournaments in order to improve his current world ranking. The 26 year old three times national champion had burst onto the scene with his first senior national title in 2011 but over training led to frequent break downs, which stopped him from playing tournaments consistently. It affected his ranking as from a career-best ranking of 30 in 2012 he now finds himself at 55. Sourabh had a successful 2018 as he recovered from a shoulder injury to win two Super 100 titles at the Russia Open and Dutch Open and clinched his third Senior National title at Guwahati last week. According to new rule, only top 25 players are getting financial help from Badminton association of India which according to Sourabh has reduced his international exposure. He added that he has to even pay for all his travel arrangements for his next two tournaments – Swiss Open and Orleans Open which are scheduled to be in March 2019.