Aseat in the Assembly wasn’t the only prize over which the battlelines were drawn recently. At Siddha Town Rajarhat, nearly 100 badminton players served, rallied and smashed over two days to win the trophy. The housing complex near the airport organised Shuttle Battle 2026, in association with The Telegraph Salt Lake.
Siddha Town, that has an active sporting community, had held another badminton tournament in winter. “But that was with nylon shuttlecocks. This was with feather and hence more elite,” said Arijit Mukherjee, president of Siddha Town Rajarhat Association of Apartment Owners. “This was the second edition of this tournament. The timing clashed with the IPL matches in the evening. We eventually want to shift it to the monsoon, as many badminton players are deprived of gametime then due to the lack of indoor courts.”
The event was open to all and drew participation from clubs, complexes, and beyond. Deepayan Bose of Eastern High and Parthasarathi Das of NBCC Vibgyor represented New Town Business Club and reached the semi-finals in the doubles 100+ category. In this category, the combined age of the two participants would have to be at least 100 years.“At the club we play regularly, but for recreation; tournaments involve a higher level of skill and temperament. But such events are the way to raise our standard,” said Bose.
Many players took part from the host complex too. One such was Bidhubhushan Maharana, who also doubled as a line judge. “People think I get the best view sitting closest to the court, but my job is to stare at the ground to see whether the shuttle lands in or out of the court,” said the man who works at Webel. “We have a thriving badminton-playing culture in this complex. In fact, in our WhatsApp group, if anyone posts ‘good morning’, it’s really code for “I’m at the court, come along!” and so the rest hurry over too.”
The event was also supported by resident Arcaprava Banerjee, in whose mother Arati Banerjee’s name the tournament was held. “It was my father’s wish to do so, and we supported the first edition of this event last year, too. My father died in December, but I wish to continue the initiative for the sake of sports,” said Banerjee. “I’m not on the court today due to knee pain, but want to promote the cause.”
The tournament was managed by a dedicated team of volunteers. “In the IPL, they show the commentators on TV, but here we are hidden behind the scenes,” laughed Subhadip Roy, after making an announcement. “Our job requires much concentration. We have seven categories, and many participants are competing in multiple events. After every match they win, we have to quickly arrange their upcoming games, avoiding back‑to‑back matches so they can catch their breath in between,” added Dibyendu Mondal.
Also helping out were the likes of Shamim Khan, Nirmalya Sengupta, and Subhra Sircar De, joint secretary of the association. Tanmoy Dutta was the in-house photographer, capturing the action on the court, and Gourav Dutta and Somnath Daripa had designed the visual elements.
Winners all
Several star players raised the bar at the tournament. One such was Maninder Singh of Uniworld City. Along with Amit Patra, he won the men’s doubles open and doubles 80+. With Bhaskarjyoti Bhowmick, he won silver in the doubles 100+ and with his wife Twinkle, won the spouse doubles too.
“Our family loves sports, and we practise a lot,” said Maninder’s teenage daughter Tanishka, who herself reached the semi-finals of the women’s doubles with Swagata Dey.
Among other winners were Naba Kumar Raha, who won the doubles 90+ with Asim Deb, and again the doubles 100+ with Dibas Barua. Amit Patra and Swagata Dey won the mixed doubles, and Priyanka Singha Roy and Anusree Singha Roy, sisters from Uniworld City, bagged the women’s doubles trophy.