Badminton: Indians receive top billing in four categories for Asia Junior U-17 & U-15 C’ships

Indian shuttlers will look to better the country’s solitary gold medal at the last edition as they start their campaign at the upcoming Asia Junior U-17 and U-15 Badminton Championships on Wednesday in Surabaya, Indonesia.

In the last championships held in Myanmar in 2018, India returned with one gold medal when Gujarat’s Tasnim Mir and Meghana Reddy of Telangana had emerged champions is U-15 girls doubles. The contingent will look to bag more medals this time around in Indonesia with Badminton Association of India sending a competitive squad.

“The players were selected on the basis of their performances from the declared selection tournaments held in Guwahati and Manipur in the month of June and July respectively. While the moral of the team is upbeat, I have personally gone to the airport to see off the shuttlers on Sunday as the team left for Indonesia,” said Ajay Singhania, General Secretary of BAI.

The five-day competition, which is scheduled from December 11-15, will see India’s top junior national shuttlers vying for continental honors.

Maharashtra’s Varun Kapur, who’s is seeded first, will lead Indian attack along with Pranav Rao Gandham in the U-17 boys singles category. In the U-17 girls singles group, Uttar Pradesh’s Mansi Singh will be among the main contenders.

Tasnim and Tanmoy Boruah of Assam have been given top billing in the U-15 girls and boys singles draws respectively. Tanmay and Lakhsay Sharma are the top seeds in boys U-15 doubles.

Squads: (U-15)

Boys singles: Raghav (HAR), Lokesh Reddy (TS), Lakshay Sharma (PNB), Ankit Mondal (WB), Tonmoy Baruah (ASM), Gagan (HAR);

Girls singles: Tasnim Mir (GUJ), Anupama Upadhyay (HAR), Tara Shah (MAH), Manya Avlani (MAH), Neysa Cariappa (KTK), Radhika Sharma (PNB);

Boys doubles: Lokesh Reddy (TS)/ Ankit Mondal (WB), Gagan (HAR)/ Mayank Rana (HAR), Tonmoy Baruah (ASM)/Lakshay Sharma (PNB);

Girls doubles: Andrea Kurien (KER)/ Pavithtra Naveen (KER), Ganadha Karthikeyan (TN)/Sania Sikkandar (TN), Anya Chauhan (UTR)/ Ankita Gogoi (ASM);

Mixed doubles: Satwik Reddy (TS)/ Swetaparna Panda (ORI), Samerveer (CHG)/ Rijul Saini (HAR), Shaurya Pant (UTR)/ Anya Chauhan (UTR).

Squads: (U-17)

Boys singles: Pranav Rao Gandham (TS), Shubham Patel (RAJ), Jayant Rana (HAR), Ayush Raj Gupta (UP), Sanjeeva Rao Relly (AP), Varun Kapur (MAH);

Girls singles: Pranavi N (TN), Riya Habbu (MAH), Isharani Baruah (ASM), Mansi Singh (UP), Meghana Reddy (TS), Kriti Bharadwaj (KTK);

Boys doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan (TN)/ Ruban Kumar R (TN), Haryan Hooda (HAR)/ Pankaj (HAR), Saikat Banerjee (WB)/Aditya Mondal (WB);

Girls doubles: Janani Ananthkumar (KTK)/ Tanya Hemanth (KTK), Pranavi N (TN)/ Sarumathi V (TN), Gnanadha Karthikeyan (TN)/Sania Sikkandar (TN);

Mixed doubles: Ayan Rashid (ASM)/ Tasnim Mir (GUJ), Advit Bhargava (DLI)/ Navdha Manglam (DLI), Arjun Fallary (GOA)/ Lydia Barretto (GOA).