NEW DELHI: India will host one of the seven prestigious Super Series badminton events in a revamped and lucrative tennis-style world badminton calendar that will also see the sport’s first ever million dollar prize money tournament.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF), at its executive council meeting in Kuala Lumpur Friday, gave the go ahead for the five new Premier Series tournaments, on the lines of the Grand Slams in tennis. The All England, which celebrated its 100th edition in March, the Korea Open, Indonesia Open, Denmark Open and China Open will comprise the new Premier Series. The Korean Open will have a purse of $1.2 million, four times as much as this year, and will become the first in the sport to offer over $1 million in prize money. The Super Series format, which was introduced in 2007, will now be the second-tier events with an increase in the prize money. BWF, after a review of its annual calendar at the end of 2009, had decided to introduce the two-tier system from 2011.
The good news for India is that it has been awarded the rights to host a Super Series event 2011-13 which will boost the popularity of the sport in the country. The other hosts of the Super Series events, with a prize purse of $200,000, are France, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and China. The Super Series event features the world’s top 32 players in men’s and women’s singles and doubles.