Asian team badminton: Sindhu, Saina to lead India's charge
Leading India's charge in the men's singles will be Srikanth, who clinched four titles last year.
New Delhi: Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and world no. 3 Kidambi Srikanth will lead the Indian women’s and men’s teams respectively, at the Asian Team Championships in Malaysia from February 6 to 11.
In the 2016 edition at Hyderabad, India’s men had lost in the semi-final to eventual champions Indonesia, while the women’s side were blanked by South Korea in the quarter-finals.
The Badminton Association of India has decided to field a formidable line up for this year’s edition at Alor Setar, which will serve as a qualification tournament for the Thomas and Uber Cups finals.
Leading India’s charge in the men’s singles will be Srikanth, who clinched four titles last year. He will have strong back up from H.S. Prannoy, Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma.
In the women’s singles category, Sindhu will take the baton in her hands along with Saina Nehwal. Krishna Priya and Ruthvika Gaade have also been named in the team.
The doubles contingent will include the men’s pairing of Satwik Sairaj and Chirag Shetty, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy and Shlok Ramachandran and M.R. Arjun, while Ashwini Ponappa and Sikki Reddy will be handed the mantle in the women’s doubles section and will be backed up by Prajakta Sawant and Sanyogita and Rituparna Das and Mithila U.K.
Praneeth out
In Sibu, Malaysia, Praneeth and the women’s doubles pair of Ponnappa and Reddy bowed out of the Malaysia Masters on Thursday.
Praneeth lost to top seeded Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 17-21, 8-21 while Ponnappa and Reddy went down to Denmark’s Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen 15-21, 15-21.