120 shuttlers to compete in selection trials for CWG, Asiad and Thomas-Uber Cup slated to begin on Friday

The Badminton Association of India’s (BAI) national selection trials will kick off at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Friday, April 15.

The six-day trials will be conducted by the BAI to pick the teams for the upcoming Thomas & Uber Cup, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

A total of 120 players will be participating in the five categories and the six-day long selection trials will go on until April 20. Coaches, parents and media will be allowed to watch the matches from the gallery.

BAI will also select the core group of probable players for the 2024 Olympic Games as a group of 60 players will be selected through direct selection and trials.

Trials will be played in league-cum-round robin format, says BAI

The selection trials will be held in a league-cum-round robin format to decide the positions. The seedings in the trials draw will be decided on the basis of international rankings followed by national rankings. Combined individual ranking points given by BWF will be considered in doubles for the seedings.

In the men’s singles, 25 players will be divided into eight groups and the top two players will progress to the second stage where they will be divided into four groups.

The third stage will have three groups to decide the players' positions on the league table. The winners of each group from stage two will play for ranks 1 to 4 in a round-robin format. Runners-up will have to fight for positions 5-8, while third-placed players will aim for positions 9 to 12.

19 women’s singles players will be divided into 6 groups: BAI

19 players will be divided into six different groups in the women’s singles trials. Five groups of three players each and one with four. Similar to the men’s singles format, top two players will progress to the second stage and then four groups will be formed as they will fight for positions from 1-12 in a round-robin format.

BAI General Secretary Sanjay Mishra said:

“We want to give each and every player enough chances to prove their abilities. This is the best possible format that BAI and the selection committee came up with.”

Singles players Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu alongside men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have been named as the automatic selection.

Mishra added:

“The players ranked in the top-15 in the world have been selected directly as announced earlier. Prannoy’s name has also been included, as all the selectors were of the unanimous view that he should be considered for direct selection as he has performed consistently at top events in the recent time and has beaten some top players.”

Bengaluru teenager Tanya Hemanth will be eager to showcase her talent in the BAI selection trials. (Pic credit: Hemanth Kumar)

Men’s doubles and women’s doubles will see competition of 13 and 11 pairs respectively.

In the men’s doubles, pairs will be divided into four groups—three consisting of three pairs each, while one with four pairs in the first stage. The women’s doubles will have four groups with three consisting of three pairs each and one with two pairs.

The top two pairs will then progress into the second stage and will be further divided into two groups before they fight for eight positions in each category. The top two teams will play for positions 1 to 4 while bottom two teams will fight for positions 5-8.

14 mixed doubles pairs will be divided into 4 groups: BAI

In the mixed doubles category, 14 pairs will be divided into four groups and the top two from each group will move into the second stage. In the second stage, two groups will be formed before the final round-robin stage, in which the top two pairs from each group will fight for the first four positions. Bottom two teams will play for positions 5 to 8.

For CWG, both men’s and women’s teams will consist of two singles players, while the remaining three positions will be filled by two doubles and one mixed doubles player.

In the Thomas & Uber Cup and Asian Games squads, one singles and two doubles positions are available in the men’s category. In the women’s section three singles and the same number of doubles positions are up for grabs.

The top eight men’s and women’s singles players, top six men’s and women’s doubles pairs and four mixed doubles pairs will be selected to be part of the National Core Group. They will be a part of the group along with the players selected directly.

The Thomas & Uber Cup is scheduled to be held in Bangkok from May 8 to 15. The 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2022 Asian Games will take place in Birmingham and Hangzhou.