history

More than two decades ago some senior sports persons approaching superannuation stage for combating hazards of ageing and to maintain fitness started practicing badminton in the Ananda Chandra College premises. While doing so they formed an association and initiated coaching of badminton to youngsters in the gymnasium half of the college. Pioneers in this venture were Dr. S.K. Barik, Dr. C.P. Sinha, Late S.R. Bhadra, Sri A.K. Mitra and Sri Banabir Bhattacharya. Some more sports enthusiasts joined then in the process. On 20^th December, 1990 in a meeting besides naming the association as JIBPA (Jalpaiguri Indoor Badminton Players’ Association) it was resolved that grooming of youngsters would be in a methodical way. For the purpose the gym hall was hired on rental basis from the college authorities and to provide systematic and regular coaching local and outstation reputed and expert coaches were engaged. Meanwhile the Association got registered and affiliated to the state body. To meet the need for tournament exposure and to have a feel of the high standard of the game several tournaments were arranged. First of such was an initiation tournament in which state and national ranking players participated followed by West Bengal 59^th Senior State Badminton Championship in 1995 and other tournaments. The event was inaugurated by the then Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal Mr. K.V. Raghunath Reddy. In 1999 the activities came to a temporary halt owing to withdrawal of permission for using the college gym. Thereafter through painstaking efforts a piece of land purchased at Shilpasamitipara and thanks to the unstilted support from Dr. Subrata Gupta, IAS, the then D.M., Jalpaiguri and Ex M.P. Sri Debaprasad Roy (Now MLA, Alipurduar) and indoor stadium with four storied annexe building could be built within 3 years financed by Central Government, State Government aids and donation from other agencies and people. 15.04.2003 was the opening day of the stadium.

                   In 2004 with the diversification of activities, Table Tennis, Multigym, Carrom, Chess etc. wings were opened in addition to Badminton. The name of the association was appropriately changed to JIGPA (Jalpaiguri Indoor Games Players’ Association) from existing JIBPA. Throughout two decades of its existence several state, Inter State, Ranking Tournaments were held in all the wings. Some of our youngsters reached state and national standard as a result of out sustained coaching scheme.