As many as 206 male and 96 female badminton players will compete at theInternational Ciputra Hanoi-Vietnam Challenge 2011 from March 29 toApril 3.

This announcement has been made by head of badminton section of Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Duong Thi Lien.

Theycome from domestic and foreign teams such as Indonesia, Malaysia,Chinese Hongkong, Chinese Taipei, Japan, the Republic of Korea,Singapore, Thailand, Russia, South Africa and Nigeria.

Malaysia alone send 62 athletes, Chinese Taipei, 38.

Atthe same event which has the endorsement of the World BadmintonFederation and Asia Badminton Confederation held last year, it drew 260athletes from 15 teams.

According to Lien, there are many players taking part in this event. It means this event begins to have a large attraction.

"Thisyear, badminton players are preparing for the qualifying round ofLondon Olympics 2012 so partaking many events will not only helpathletes gain skills and experience but also help them add points tosecure places to Olympics," said Lien.

Nguyen Tien Minh,Vietnam's top badminton star and world No 8 will not participating inthe competition as he is now competing on bigger tours. However, thehost will show off a squad of youngsters such as Pham Hoang Nam, Le HaAnh, Vu Thi Trang, Thai Thi Hong Gam.

In preparation for thisevent, Hanoi Badminton Federation invited 60 domestic and nineinternational referees to run the tourney.

As planned, the drawwill be conducted on March 22 by the Asian Badminton Federation. It willbe based on the latest ranking table of the World Badminton Federation.

Theannual event has a top prize of 15,000 USD awarded in the men's andwomen's singles and doubles and mixed doubles categories./.