Bengaluru, April 13 (IANS): The Coal India National Senior Ranking badminton tournament, offering a total prize-money of Rs.5 lakh, gets underway at the K. Raheja Stadium here on Tuesday with more than 600 players from 23 states in the fray.

It is the first time that Coal India has come forward to support a major ranking event in badminton that is being conducted by the Padukone Sports Management under the aegis of Karnataka Badminton Association and Badminton Association of India (BAI).

BAI will consider the performance of players in this event for selecting them for various international tournaments in the coming months.

The qualifying rounds are scheduled for April 14 and 15 and will feature over 500 matches in five categories -- men's singles and doubles; women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles.

There are eight slots for qualifiers in singles events and four in the doubles events while the dain draw matches will commence on April 16 with the finals scheduled for played on April 18.

This tournament will feature the country's top players like Guru Sai Dutt, Sai Praneeth, Anand Pawar, Subhankar Dey, and seasoned campaigners like Chetan Anand in the men's singles. The women's singles field includes former national champion Sayali Gokhale, Tanvi Lad and promising youngsters Reshma Karthik and Vrushali.