The Badminton Association of India (BAI) in their quest to give their players enough time to prepare for international tournaments have announced the teams for three upcoming international tournaments after a selection committee meeting that was held in Bangalore on Saturday.
The committee has declared the names of the players who will travel for the upcoming tournaments starting with the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold (June 27th-July 2nd), Canada Open Grand Prix (July 11th-July 16th) and US Open Grand Prix Gold (July 19th-23rd) along with the announcement of the squad for the Junior Asian Badminton Championship.
While World No. 33 Sourabh Verma will lead the Indian charge in the men’s singles category in Taipei, it will also be an ideal ground for the upcoming players to prove their mettle and make the most out of the opportunity. Apart from Verma, Harsheel Dani and Siril Verma will represent India in the men’s singles category, while the women’s singles section will be represented by Sri Krishna Priya and Uttejitha Rao.
In the Canada Open, India’s hopes will be pinned on the experienced duo of World No. 29 H.S Prannoy and P Kashyap. Both these players have been on and off the court in the past season due to injury and will be eager to get back to winning ways.
In the women’s singles category, World No. 45, Rituparna Das, one of the fastest rising players from the country will be the cynosure of all Indian eyes. Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy will drive the Indian challenge in the men’s doubles action, while Poorvisha Ram and J Meghana and the doubles duo of Kuhoo Garg/Nancy B Hazarika will represent India in the women’s doubles category. Siki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra will represent India in the mixed doubles section.
The US Open will see Saina Nehwal spearheading the women’s singles contingent as she will look to annexe her first US Open title. The men’s singles action will see a strong line-up with the trio of Sameer Verma, Prannoy and Kashyap representing India in California.
The mixed doubles category will feature the new found pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Both the players were paired for the first time in the Sudirman Cup and they dished out jaw-dropping performances, drawing praise from all quarters. The pair exhibited great chemistry and they will look forward to carrying their momentum in the US and deliver a title winning performance.
Also, the junior squad for the upcoming Badminton Asian Junior Championships that will be played in Jakarta, Indonesia from July 22nd –July 30th was also announced during the meeting.
Full Squad –
Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold (June 27th – July 2nd)
Men’s Singles – Sourabh Verma, Harsheel Dani, Siril Verma, Women’s Singles – Sri Krishna Priya, Uttejitha Rao
Canadian Open Grand Prix (July 11th 16th)
Men’s Singles – Sameer Verma, H.S Prannoy, P. Kashyap, Women’s Singles – Rituparna Das, Ruthvika Shivani, Sri Krishna Priya, Sai Uttejitha Rao, Men’s Doubles – Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy, Women’s Doubles – Poorvisha Ram/J Meghana, Kuhoo Garg/Nancy B Hazarika, Mixed Doubles – Sikki Reddy/Pranaav Jerry Chopra
US Open Grand Prix Gold (July 19th -23rd)
Men’s Singles – Sameer Verma, H.S Prannoy, P Kashyap, Women’s Singles – Rituparna Das, Saina Nehwal, Ruthvika Shivani, Men’s Doubles – Manu Attri/Summeth Reddy, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, Women’s Doubles – Poorvisha Ram/Sumeeth Reddy, Sikki Reddy/Ashwini Ponnappa, Kuhoo Garg/Nancy B Hazarika, Mixed Doubles – Sikki Reddy/Pranaav Jerry Chopra, Ashwini Ponnappa/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
Badminton Asian Junior Championships (July 22nd – 30th)
Boy’s Singles – Jaswanth D, Lakshya Sen, Karthikey Gulshan Kumar, Arintap Das, Reserves – Swarnaraj Bora, Aryaman Tandon,), Girl’s Singles – Aakarshi Kashyap, Prashi Joshi, Ashmita Chalia, Ira Sharma (Reserves – Kanika Kanwal), Boy’s Doubles – Dhruv Kapila/Krishna Prasad, Swarnaraj Bora/Sai Pawan Karri, Krishna Podili/Vishnuavardhan Gaur,
Girl’s Doubles – Rituparna Panda /U K Mithula, Ashwini Bhat/Apeksha, Anugraha/Reza Farhath, Mixed Doubles –Tapaswini S Roy/Sanjay Srivastav, DhruvKapila/U K Mithula, G. Krishna Prasad/ Partner (decided by coach) Coaches: Sanjay Mishra, Arvind Bhatt, Anshuman Hazarika, Trupti Murgunde
Manager: Bamang Tago (Arunachal Pradesh) Sukant Das (Sikkim)
