Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
World Champion PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will spearhead eight-member strong Indian challenge in the three tournaments to be played Bangkok, Thailand in January
With the Olympics qualifications in mind, Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Monday named squad consisting ting of Olympic-bound shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy for these tournaments.
The team will be accompanied by singles foreign coaches Agus Dwi Santoso and Park Tae Sang and doubles coach Dwi Kristiawan alongside support staff consisting of Kiran Challagundla, Johnson, Evangelina Baddam and M Srikanth.r.”
The Indians will begin their campaign with Yonex Thailand Open from January 12-17, 2021 followed by Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) and the s HSBC BWF World Tour Finals which is rescheduled for January 27-31.
After the coronavirus outbreak disrupted the sporting world this will be the first time that top Indian players, apart from Srikanth, will feature in any international tournament.
The former World No. 1, Srikanth had made a comeback when he played the Denmark Open in October.
“We are very happy to see badminton finally getting back on the court. It gives us hope that tournaments can eventually make a steady comeback in near future.” said BAI General Secretary Ajay Singhania.
“Most of our players haven’t played tournaments in the last 7-8 months however, they have been training to the best of their abilities at the camp. The purpose of sending a full-strength team in these tournaments so that players can get the much-needed tournament practice ahead of the Olympic qualifiers,” he added.
