President of Bangladesh Badminton Federation Abdul Malek, who is also the Secretary of the Information Ministry, inaugurated the five-day meet in the afternoon, organised by Bangladesh Badminton Federation under the supervision of the World Badminton Federations and Badminton Asia.
Bangladeshi top seed Gourav Singh, Ahsan Habib Parosh, Abdul Khalek, Salman Khan and Ariful Islam Tuhin won their opening matches beating their rivals while two other players Mongal Singh and Lal Chand got walkover against their Indian rivals.
But Bangladeshi top women’s shuttlers, including Elina Sultana, Shapla Akter and Urmi Akter, lost their opening matches on the day. Only Rehana Parvin beat her Mauritius rival Gemima by straight 3-0 sets.
A total of 151 shuttlers, including 94 men and 57 women, from 14 countries – the USA, Australia, Germany, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia, Bahrain, Vietnam, Mauritius and hosts Bangladesh – are taking part in the international badminton meet.