Five of badminton world’s biggest stars including five time world champion Lin Dan of China and former Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat would decent in Mumbai on November 4 as part of The Legends’ Vision World Tour envisaged to promote the sport among youngsters.
Conceptualised by equipment manufacturers Yonex in 2015, the Legends’ Vision Tour is an attempt to allow young players, coaches and all the stakeholders related to the sport to interact with these stars on the ways to build a successful career and more importantly promote the game among the masses.
Mumbai would be the first city in India to host the event, which will be held at the National Sports Club of India indoor stadium with the who’s who of Indian badminton from present and past likely to grace the occasion.
The other stars who would grace the occasion include two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, former world number one Peter Gade of Denmark and the youngest Olympic gold medallist in badminton, Lee Yong Dae of Korea.
Big strides
“India has taken big strides in world badminton in the last few years and the success of Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu and the men’s singles players have only made more and more children take up the sport. It was therefore imminent that India had to be one stop for the Legends’ Vision Tour this year, which is basically a celebration of one of the world’s fastest racquet sport,” said Vikram Dhar, Country Manager Yonex Sunrise.
In the first year, Legends’ Vision covered badminton powerhouses China, Indonesia, Denmark and Malaysia while the stars will visit Japan and France besides India in 2017.
According to the tentative program for the day, the legends would interact with various stakeholders apart from playing a few exhibition games.
Asked whether the event would be open for general public, Dhar said it would be open house but entries for the main event would be by invitation given the capacity of the stadium. “We want to invite every former player and every academy in the country for the event. Then there will be local badminton fans who would want to come and watch the stars in action. But given the capacity constraints we will be issuing passes for the same that should be available on first-cum-first serve basis sometime in late October,” he added.