Latheef, Abhilash win Open Professional category

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 3: This year’s KDD-IBAK Kuwait Badminton League concluded with the best team holding ‘Victor’ aloft the championship trophy crushing five other endowed teams.

The final witnessed their incommensurable talents over the opponent team ‘Royal Stars’. It was indeed a battle of nerves between both the teams where at the end Victor reaped the trophy with a 3-0 lead.

The 2019 KDD KBL prize distribution was done by Subramanian VP Business Integration KDD, in the presence of Dr Manimara Chozhan Chairman IBAK, Chandrahas K.T., President IBAK and Aneesh General Secretary IBAK, Ajaykumar Vasudevan (VP), KBL and Bipin Madhavan, COO, KBL as well as other directors of KBL. In his inaugural speech Subramanian stressed on the need for healthy living and this is in tune with the vision and activities of the KDD. He reiterated the commitment of KDD in supporting badminton in Kuwait.

KDD-Kuwait Badminton League 2019 had six teams owned by IBAK members which were sponsored by individuals/corporates and participated in the 2019 edition. Top 102 players who practice across different clubs in Kuwait were auctioned into each team during the first week of September 2019. KDD-KBL was a fantastic opportunity for players where senior/international players helped and played with junior players and the experiences and expertise were shared across.

The 2019 league consisted of 6 teams, Victor, Royal Stars, The Cougars, CAF Dragons, Sabres & Thanjai Ninjas and was played in a round robin/Knockout format. Each tie had 5 matches, 1 Singles, two open doubles, one advance doubles and a mixed doubles.

CAF Dragons are owned by Chandra Mouli; Thanjai Ninjas by Ceasar; Victor by Yasin Bose; The Cougars by Mathews; The Sabres by T.J. Singh and Royal Stars by Binoy.

In the finals, Victor and Royal Stars had their most gifted players in their arsenal. Singles were played with Chris Sijo from Victor and Arif Sayed from Royal Stars and Chris Sijo won by (21-9, 21-9).

In Open Professional Category, it was their captain Aneef K. Latheef and Ajay Abhilash who beat Nanang Reska and Stegin Titus by (21-11, 21-18). This match became the highlight of the finals and it was always neck to neck between the two teams. In the Advanced Category, Anil John and Abin C. Mathew trashed Freedy Alexander and Greesh Babu 22-20, 21-13.

Semifinals had The Cougars and CAF Dragons in this battle of titans. But they couldn’t make it to the finals and Cougars falling to the Victor and the CAF Dragons to Royal Stars respectively.

Winners: Victor; Runners-up: Royal Stars; Semifinalists: The Cougars, CAF Dragons; 5th: Thanjai Ninjas and 6th: Sabres.

Kuwait Danish Diary (KDD) – In line with its vision of “Wholesome Goodness” KDD came forward to support IBAK and Kuwait Badminton League for the fifth consecutive year.

KBL is the premier and only professional badminton league in Kuwait. Indian Badminton Association Kuwait (IBAK) in association with Kuwait Badminton federation (KBF) had conceived the idea of a league in 2015, and this was the 5th consecutive year in which the league was held. Kuwait Danish Diary (KDD) was the title sponsor of Kuwait Badminton League for all these years.

Participating team Victor was sponsored by Chef Naushad signature restaurant, Salt & Pepper restaurant, and SpiceJet (Al Rashed International travel Co); Royal Stars were sponsored by Rapid Freight & Logistics Systems and Healing touch Ayurveda Spa & Salon for men; CAF Dragons were sponsored by CAF Café and Thanjai Ninjas by Testing & Engineering Services Est.

Earlier IBAK had announced their international event Kuwait Badminton Challenge – 2019 will be held on Nov 8, 9 & 10, 2019 at their Salwa location.

The Kuwait Badminton Challenge 2019 will be the 6th edition of IBAK’s International Badminton Tournament. All the previous editions were grand successes with participation from BWF-ranked players from different parts of the world like India, Indonesia and Malaysia. Sports lovers of Kuwait are anxiously waiting for this badminton extravaganza.