Through the virtual meet, the young badminton enthusiasts get scope to learn directly from the players and experts such as P.V. Sindhu, Anup Sridhar and Ryan Fernando

Mumbai: PNB MetLife, one of India's leading private life insurance companies, continues its mission of promoting the sport of badminton at the grassroots level, this time in a digital form with the Junior Badminton Championship (JBC) Dugout.

More than 3,200 children from across India attended the virtual event to hear from of P.V Sindhu, BWF World Champion (2019), the Olympic medallist and the brand ambassador of PNB MetLife, Anup Sridhar, renowned Badminton Coach, Ryan Fernando, Sports Nutritionist and Ashish Kumar Srivastava, MD & CEO of PNB MetLife. In addition, the event was moderated by RJ Mir, a prominent radio jockey.

For the past five years, PNB MetLife JBC has been a much-awaited in-person experience for young badminton enthusiasts. The event provides a nationwide platform that revives the sport's spirit by nurturing the right talent at an amateur level and fostering their growth and ability to perform on a national scale.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing, PNB MetLife changed its approach to enable children to participate from the safety of home through the JBC virtual Dugout. This event provided them with an opportunity to directly connect with the top badminton players and industry experts seeking tips on how to stay fit and practice their skills to come-back strong post lockdown. The experts encouraged the youngsters to ‘Eat Right, Play Hard’ and offered advice on how to retain focus and mental strength.

P.V Sindhu said “In this lockdown scenario, the biggest challenge was to maintain fitness due to the limited access to training. However, it also gave me an opportunity and time to review my shortcomings. I am happy to be associated with a brand like PNB MetLife which has been making an effort to grow badminton at the grassroots level over the past few years. Every year during JBC tournament, I have seen the game standards improving and bar being raised higher. I encourage all the young enthusiasts to keep practising safely."

Anup Sridhar added "Being consistent and having the right attitude is what this game demands the most. I would encourage the young players to be disciplined and use this time to improve upon their game techniques. Here the players can also refer to the sessions from PNB MetLife’s JBC BootCamp – as it serves a wonderful learning platform from the experts. I wish we had such a platform like this during our playing years! ."

Ryan Fernando said "Having good nutrition and a proper diet are crucial for champions to perform at their best. Players need to learn to adapt to different cuisines, so that nutrition is not compromised even if they are playing away in different region. We need to set a different diet plan for offseason, pre-tournament and pre-match. This will help the athletes maintain balance and keep their stamina intact when they are on or off training".

Ashish Kumar Srivastava noted "At PNB MetLife we believe that fiscal health and physical health go together, and we encourage the young badminton players to stay focussed and disciplined in all circumstances. Discipline is the main ingredient to success. On a personal front, since I am passionate about badminton, I make it a point to practise regularly despite my busy Corporate schedule. During lockdown, I ensured to follow some indoor exercises so that I could get back the momentum once the lockdown was over. "

PNB MetLife is dedicated to the cause of promoting health and fitness by motivating youth to embrace sports early in life. The company has been promoting the message – Health and Happiness go hand in hand and has been pushing numerous initiatives for its employees and communities.

About PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited

PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited (PNB MetLife), one of the top 10 life insurance companies of India (Source – CRISIL), has as its shareholders MetLife International Holdings LLC. (MIHL), Punjab National Bank Limited (PNB), Jammu & Kashmir Bank Limited (JKB), M. Pallonji and Company Private Limited and other private investors, with MIHL and PNB being the majority shareholders.

For more information, follow us on Twitter @PNBMetLife1, www.facebook.com/PNBMetLife or visit www.pnbmetlife.com

• The marks "PNB" and "MetLife" are the registered trademarks of Punjab National Bank and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, respectively. PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited is a licensed user of these marks".