USAB announced a change in this year’s upcoming Junior International Trials in Los Angeles.  According to its website, the Junior Advisory Group confirmed that players will have to qualify in order to compete in the trials.  More information is available here.  Key concerns for implementing a change this year have been: safety of its athletes, length of play days, length of tournament, a concern for garnering the best players to represent the USA, and an antiquated player selection system.

Of particular importance to players in the Northeast Region, USA Badminton says, “Each draw, whether 8, 16 or 32 will have one spot for each of the four major Junior areas – SoCal, NoCal, NWest pus Midwest, and NEast plus South, provided that a region’s entry has non-zero ranking points in that event. This attends to the fact that each region has produced top players even if the dominant number is in California.” 

Photo Courtesy: Peter Teuben