Olympian shuttler Nikhil Kanetkar will grace the inaugural function of Gaikwad Patil International School-SJAN Media Badminton Tournament to be held at Subhedar Hall from April 20 to 22.
He will open the tournament at 9 a.m. in the presence of chairman of Gaikwad Patil Group Dr Mohan Gaikwad, acting director of Department of Sports and Physical Education of RTM Nagpur University Prof. Atmaram Pande and others.
 Born in a Maharashtrian family, Kanetkar played badminton at the 2004 Athens Olympics in men’s singles, defeating Sergio Llopis of Spain in the first round. In the round of 16, Kanetkar was defeated by Peter Gade of Denmark. In addition to Olympics, Kanetkar has represented India in the Thomas Cup, All England Open, Asian Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games, SAF Games, Swiss Open, French Open, Toulouse Open and numerous other champion Kanetkar is also a columnist and commentator.
Men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles events will be played during the annual tournament. Cash prizes and trophies will be given to the winners, runners-up and semi-finalists in the men’s singles and doubles events. In the mixed doubles and women singles events winners and runners-up will be awarded cash prizes and trophies.
 The entry fee for singles is Rs 30 and Rs 50 for doubles. Matches will be played with Yonex feather shuttles. Yonex will sponsor the T-shirts for all the winners and runners-up.The last date of entry is April 18 and the draws will be declared on April 19. For entries, the interested players can contact sports desk of respective newspapers or convener of the tournament Nilesh Deshpande (9881243198).
