KUWAIT CITY, Sept 20: Indian Badminton Association of Kuwait (IBAK), which within one-and-a-half-year of its establishment has become one of the largest and best organized badminton clubs in Kuwait, is returning to action this week, after a long summer break.
All the IBAK players will be seen in action at the permanent home of the organization in Saad Al Auzi School, Salwa, Block 1, Street 100.
IBAK, led by its President Dr Manimara Chozhan, kicks off the new season on Friday, Sept 23, 2011, with a Masters Tournament although a number of major events have been lined up for the coming weeks by the IBAK office-bearers.
Starting off the season will be the IBAK Open Masters Tournament on Friday with this event being a doubles championship. The tournament will be held over two categories – professional and advanced level. The organizers are looking at the number of entries for this event for they are planning to hold this championship on a league cum knockout format.
This tournament, which see action every Friday with the games beginning at 10:00 hours.The organizers say attractive prizes are to be won. They have also set a KD 2 per player entry fee for IBAK members while non-IBAK members will have to pay KD 5 per player.

The Masters Tournament is expected to be a yearly affair and attract the top level players. The organizers say they already have Pakistani and Russian teams with the possibility of Filipino and Indonesian teams also taking part in the event.
In the future, the Masters Tournament will invite participation from outside Kuwait as well. For entries contact ibakchozhan@gmail.com
Ambassador to India Satish Mehta will inaugurate the opening function which includes prize distribution for the recently-concluded tournaments.
Another major event being planned at the same venue this season is the Inter-School Tournament, which has been scheduled for the Eid Al Adha holidays in the first week of November. Such an event is being organized for the first time.
“We are committed to the popularization of badminton in Kuwait and are actively involved in promoting the same. We feel that an opportunity must be provided to our budding talent to pursue their interest in our home away from home,” say the organizers.
The organizers have called for entries in the different age groups that are being planned as part of the tournament. The organizers have clarified that there will be no entry fee for the event.They have also called for some kind of uniform to be provided to the players for the purpose of indentification and segregation.

The organizers have also announced that Coaching Module 2 is set to take off from mid-October to mid-December. The first module, which was quite successful, ended in June.
The coach for this module is a renowned coach from India, who happens to be the coach of yesteryear stars like George Thomas, Vimal Kumar etc and of current and emerging champions (Pranoy, youth Olympics silver medalist in badminton), rising star Sindhu Sreedharan and others.
The first coaching camp, called “Coaching Module I” was not a walk in the park as the training was tough with experienced players supervising the proceedings over three months, with the camp being held every week. The toughness of the course can be judged by the fact 80 enrolled for the course but only 32 trainees were able to come out of it with success.
Abraham Kuriakose, a renowned state and national Indian player was the coach for the module. The parents found the coaching sessions useful and the results were there to see in the tournament which followed the coaching camp because among the winners were three first time badminton trainees.
The organizers made a lot of arrangements for the first coaching camp with free transport being provided for the trainees who were drawn from all over Kuwait. There was a lot of focus on fitness, which is the major problem with trainees in Kuwait.
A lot of credit for planning and holding of these tournaments must go to all the IBAK officers who have worked tirelessly since its creation to ensure the success of each event.

The following are the IBAK office-bearers:
President – Dr Manimara Chozhan
General Secretary – Thomas Moolayil
Noor Kalamatta – Secretary Coaching
Aun Foizen – Secretary Sports
Soraiya Fooizen – Secretary Ladies Wing
Gopalakrishnan – Secretary Web Affairs
Mohammad Sirajudeen – Secretary Membership
Mohammad Arief – Secretary Event Management
Jimmy Jose Aricatt – Secretary Public Relations
Faheem Contractor – Secretary Media
Chandramouli – Secretary Courts
Jayaprakash – Secretary Audit
Prasad Thadachery – Secretary Logistics
Dr Vijay Shirhatti – Secretary Critical Review
Priya Ullas – Executive Associate Member
Antony Marshal – Web Affairs
Srinivas Shreedhara – Jt Secretary Event Management
Sarosh Daruwala – Jt Secretary Media
Look back at the history of IBAK, it all started when a few badminton enthusiasts discussed the formation of an Indian sports group dedicated to badminton.
Led by Dr Mani and his team, an initial drive was launched to enroll 100 members for the embassy registration. After that, with some limited facilities, Indian Badminton Association in Kuwait (IBAK) was formally inaugurated by Ambassador Ajai Malhotra on April 14, 2010 at Qadsiya Sports Complex.
Today, IBAK can boast a membership of over 600 with around 250 players permanently active.Within a very short time, this organization has done and achieved more than any other in the country.
For details on any of the above events, the following can be contacted: Dr Mani 97626463, Thomas Moolayil 99340974, Noor Kalamatta 97199182, Aun Foizen 99136411 or Mallu Chandra Mouli 55634422.