BAI announces teams for upcoming Tournament

New Delhi, June 12: In an effort to give the shuttlers enough time to prepare for international tournaments, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has announced the teams for three upcoming tournaments.

The teams were announced after a selection committee meeting was held in Bengaluru 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 27 to July 2), Canada Open Grand Prix (July 11 to 6) and US Open Grand Prix Gold (July 19 to 23) 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 Canada Open, India's hopes will be pinned on the experienced duo of World No.29 H.S. Prannoy and Parupalli 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 in 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 be representing India in the women's doubles category.

N. Sikki 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 annex her first 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 see the new-found pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Both the players were paired for the first time in the Sudirman Cup in Australia and they dished out jaw-dropping performance 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 from July 22 to 30 was also announced during the meeting.

Squads:

Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold:
Men's Singles - Sourabh Verma, Harsheel Dani, Siril Verma;
Women's Singles - Sri Krishna Priya, Uttejitha Rao.

Canadian Open Grand Prix:

Men's Singles - Sameer Verma, H.S. Prannoy, Parupalli 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:
Men's Singles - Sameer Verma, H.S. Prannoy, Parupally 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/J. Meghana, Sikki Reddy/Ashwini Ponnappa;
Mixed Doubles - N. Sikki Reddy/Pranaav Jerry Chopra, Ashwini Ponnappa/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.

Badminton Asian Junior Championships:

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.