Asian Badminton Team Championships 2018: Indian women handed tough draw, men have it easier

Sindhu, Saina and Srikanth
PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth

The draw of the Asian Badminton Team Championships was announced on Tuesday. Indian men’s and women’s teams are participating in the tournament and both squads consist of some of the best players of the game.

The men’s team is in a fairly easy group (Group D) alongside Indonesia, Philipines and Maldives whereas the women’s squad is in Group W which comprises heavyweight Japan while Hong Kong is the other team completing the pool.

After narrowly missing out on a spot at the semi-finals of the Asian Badminton Team Championships last year, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) have decided to field a formidable line up for this year’s edition in Malaysia which will start from February 6 and end on February 11.

The respective teams include the likes of 2016 Olympic silver medalist P.V Sindhu, 2012 London Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal, World No. 3 Kidambi Srikanth and World No. 10 H.S Prannoy, among others.

Leading India’s charge in the men’s singles category will be the third-ranked Indian in the world, Kidambi Srikanth and will have a strong back up from H.S Prannoy, Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma who have proven that they can win against the best in the world on a given day.

In the women’s singles category, P.V Sindhu will take the baton in her hands along with Saina Nehwal and Krishna Priya and Ruthvika Gaade will also watch from close quarters.

While the doubles contingent will include the prodigious pairing of Satwik Sairaj/Chirag Shetty, World No. 32 Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy and Shlok Ramachandran/M.R Arjun, Ashwini Ponappa/Sikki Reddy will be handed the mantle in the women’s doubles section and will be backed up by Prajakta Sawant/ Sanyogita and Rituparna Das/Mithila U K.

Men's team draw

Group A: China, Hong Kong, Singapore

Group B: Japan, Korea, Nepal, Kazakhstan.

Group C: Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar

Group D: Indonesia, India, Philippines, Maldives.

Women's team Draw

Group W: Japan, India, Hong Kong.

Group X: Korea Chinese Taipei, Maldives.

Group Y: Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines,

Group Z: China, Indonesia, Singapore.

Indian contingent

Men's singles

Kidambi Srikanth

H.S Prannoy

Sai Praneeth

Sameer Verma

Women's sigles

P.V Sindhu

Saina Nehwal

Krishna Priya

Ruthvika Gaade

Men's doubles

Satwik Sairaj/Chirag Shetty

Manu Attri/ Sumeeth Reddy

Shlok Ramachandran/ M.R Arjun

Women's doubles

Ashwini Ponappa/ Sikki Reddy

Prajakta Sawant/ Sanyogita

Rituparna Das/ Mithila U.K

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Edited by Argha Bhattacharya