The 31st edition of the Smt. Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Badminton Tournament, a premier competition for the country’s junior shuttlers, will start here on Thursday with a prize purse of Rs four lakh at stake.

The tournament, which is organised by the Express Shuttle Club Trust in association with the Haryana Badminton Association, will be held at the Tau Devi Lal Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, here.

Sports goods brand Yonex Sunrise has also tied up with the host body for the conduct of the event, taking forward an association that goes back to more than two decades.

The qualifying rounds will be held from September 12 to 15 followed by main draw matches from September 16 to 19. Players born on or before Jaunary1, 2006 are eligible to participate and over 1,000 are expected to enter their names in the competition.

Viveck Goenka, Chairman of The Indian Express group, is the sponsor of the tournament, which he started in 1991 in memory of his mother Krishna Khaitan.

“We are also grateful to Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, President, Badminton Association of India, for sanctioning prize money of Rs 4,00,000/- for this tournament,” the organisers stated in a press release.

The event has been a stepping stone for India’s shuttlers with prominent past winners being Olympic medal-winning superstars Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.

While London Games bronze-medallist Saina won the event in 2005, Sindhu, who has two Olympic medals to her credit, claimed this title back in 2010.

“We are certain that many more champions will emerge from this edition of the tournament,” stated the release from the tournament organisers.

Last year’s winner in the women’s competition was Anmol Kharb, who made quite a splash earlier this year with her gutsy performances in India’s gold-winning run at Asian Team Championships in Malaysia.