Selected for Dutch Junior International and the German Junior
Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
Manipur’s Maisnam Meiraba Luwang and Samiya Imad Farooqui will spearhead 20-member Indian junior badminton team’s challenge at the Dutch Junior International from February 27 to March 3 and the German Junior from March 7-10
Manipur”s Luwang earned the distinction to lead the boys’ singles challenge by virtue of the 1192 points that he amassed following his title wins at the All-India Junior Ranking Badminton Tournaments in Vijayawada and Bangalore.
The girls’ team captain Samiya Imad Farooqui , a former 2017 U-15 Asian Junior Championships gold medallist., has 1125 points to her credit in the ranking tournaments.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) considered the cumulative ranking points from the three All India Junior Ranking tournaments held in Vijayawada, Bangalore and Jaipur in January..
While Meiraba topped the chart in the boys’ singles section, the others joining him are Andhra Pradesh’s Sai Charan Koya, Priyanshu Rajawat of Dhar in Madhya Pradesh and Sathish Kumar from Coimbatore.
In girls’ singles, Farooqui is joined by Gayatri Gopichand, Nashik girl Smit Toshniwal and Amolika Singh hailing from Uttar Pradesh.
The winner of each leg gets 500 while the runner-up bags 425. The rest of the points bifurcation are semi-finals (350), quarter-finals (275) and pre-quarter-finals (192).
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Edwin Joy will be leading India’s challenge in the boys’ doubles section.Treesa Jolly and Varshini VS will be the ones to watch in girls’ doubles while the in-form Navaneeth Bokka and Sahithi Bandi, who swept the three ranking events, will be India’s top team in mixed doubles.
The Dutch and the German Junior belong to the Junior International Grand Prix category.
Last year India won the boys’ doubles silver medal at the Dutch Junior when the talented duo of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila finished as the runners-up.
The squad
Boys : Maisnam Meiraba (AAI), Sai Charan Koya (AP), Priyanshu Rajawat (MP), Sathish Kur K (TN)
Girls Samiya Imad Farooqui , Gayatri Gopichand Pullela (TS), Smit Toshniwal (MAH), Amolika Singh (UP)
Doubles
Boys: Ishaan Bhatnagar (CG), Edwin Joy (KER), Navaneeth Bokka , Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala (TS)
Girls : Treesa Jolly (KER), Varshini VS (TN), Kavya Gupta (DLI), Khushi Gupta (DLI)
Mixed Doubles: Navaneeth Bokka , Sahithi Bandi (TS), Edwin Joy,feesah Sara Siraj (KER)