Age no bar to play Badminton

Like CSR, ‘Sports’ must be made mandatory in corporate houses: says 57years old Abhay Battawar, the senior most player at CDK Global Corporate Badminton League
Hyderabad, November 7, 2016: Age is a number. It is just a state of mind and is nothing to do with your ageing is what few aged participants of CDK Global Corporate Badminton League 2016 proved.

Sport is always perceived as the domain of the young. But there are instances where aged too proved their mettle. Martina Navratilova proved that Age is no bar.

Many participants aged 38 years and above and even 57years old participated in the just concluded CDK Global Corporate Badminton League 2016 at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy. The oldest participants was 57years old.

As present working life is becoming more and more sedentary, many are picking up sports to keep fit and fight lifestyle diseases like Diabetics, Hypertension, Cardiac Problems, Nervous breakdowns and stress.

As doctors advise increasing number of people to exercise and control their diet, people are starting walking, cycling, playing sports in the city.

I picked up Badminton at 36years age, when most people quit playing. I play sport for fun said Kosaraju Lakshman, a 52 years old man from construction industry.
Age is just a number. It is a state of mind. You are as old as you think you are. You can play whenever you want. Age is no bar. I have seen 90 plus playing. Pregnant women running (off course under expert’s supervision and guidance). I don’t think there is any age restriction to play or not to play, he observed

Dr. Vasisht, a Surgeon from Shantabai Nursing Home, played a match at Corporate Badminton League till 12 in the night at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy. Woke up at 5 next day morning, performed Hysterectomy surgery at 6am at Sagarlal Hospital and was at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy to play his matches at Corporate Badminton League.

We doctors too experience stress. We need to burst stress. Sports are the best activity to get relief from the stress, he said. He played the sport while he was in school and had a gap almost 25years. And i have revived this interest few years back said, Dr. Vasisth.

For doctors, time is a major constraint. I keep playing shuttle at-least twice in a week at Nizam Club said Dr. Arshad Punjwani, a 32years old Physician and Diabetalogist at Apollo Hyderguda. CBL is my first tournament. We didn’t know about this tournament before. It is important that we doctors keep fit ourselves, he informed.

A 57 years old former defense officer, Abhay Battawar was the oldest participant of the CDK Global Corporate Badminton League. He is currently working as a Senior Product Supervising Engineer at Honeywell. I never stopped playing a sport. I play mostly with youth, who never discouraged me. I practice regularly at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy. Army gives lot of importance for the fitness, which corporate don’t do much. Fit employees deliver the most. Like CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility) is made mandatory by Companies Act, sports must be made compulsory, he said.

I love sports says 48 years old B.H. Subhadra Rani who is a Yoga Therapist and Head of the Department (HOD) of Cardiac Rehab Department. I am a mother of 25years old daughter. I started playing badminton only recently. I saw videos on You Tube and learnt the sport. I always win medals in Inter Care Hospital Sports Meets she informed. CDK Global Badminton League is very important and more and more should participate, she said.

40years old Moreshwar, who works with Novartis, says you can slowdown aging process by leading an active life. Everyone must play at least one sport. I keep fit through sports. And i have lot of fun too. When asked how he manages time, “if there is a will there is a way”, he said.

Ranjit who organizes Amateur Badminton Hyderabad Leagues says in the past we used to see Hotel counters at the Airports. Now we see Health Desks. Health is wealth. Best way to beat sedentary lifestyle is to keep engaged in one sport, he says. And age should not restrict the sport. Anyone can play any sport. All you need to do is to make up your mind, he informed.

Work out, swet out. There is no need to diet. All my vital parameters are well within the normal says 45years old Ravikiran, a medical insurance professional. When you play a sport, you can age gracefully and you don’t have to worry about ailments. Sports will take care of all your problems. Eat well, sleep well, exercise adequately, enjoy the life he said.

Unlike in the past, this year’s edition of CBL received a record entries from non-IT sectors. Just 50 out of 196 entries were IT and rest of them were from very diversified industries as diversified as Hospitals, Startups, PSUs. etc.

A record number of hospitals such as--Century Hospital, Apollo Hospital, Care Hospital, Vasavi Hospitals, Continental Hospital, Call Health, Shanta Bhai Nursing Home etc.

Mostly people stop playing once they leave college and settle in a job. But, things are changing. Though it is not a big number, but people working in corporates slowly but steadily are picking up sports to keep fit. And they are proving; Age is no bar for sporting success. May their tribe increase!!

The three day event, one of India’s first National Inter-Corporate Badminton Tournament concluded on Sunday.

“The CBL began small in 2013 and had fewer participants, but things changed subsequently. It had 73 Companies participating in the first year, 107 companies in the second year, but last year we had record registrations of over 450 players from 150 companies, last year and this year 500 participants from 196 companies informed Sirisha Sripada of Shikhara Events, who conceptualised the league.

These corporate houses which participated include: ICICI, IBM, Wipro, Microsoft, Cyient, Cognizant, Honeywell Technologies, Vasavi Hospital, Genpact, Apollo Hospitals, Aparna Constructions, Accenture, CDK Global India, KPTI Technology, BHEL, Bank of America, Google, TCS, Infosys, Lemon Tree Hotels, Accenture, Azim Premji Foundation, Oracle, Care Hospitals, Dr. Reddy Labs, Mahindra, Century Hospitals, Synchrony Financial, Kony Labs, Deloitt, L&T Technology Services, OYO Rooms and many others.