NEW DELHI: Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy will lead the Indian contingent at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023 to be held from February 14 to 19 in Dubai.
The top-ranked Indian badminton players in the women’s and men’s singles divisions are PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy, respectively.
The winner of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, PV Sindhu, is currently ranked seventh, while HS Prannoy has climbed one spot to eighth.
With the exception of the mixed doubles competition, which comprises just one pair, two players and teams are chosen in each category (singles and doubles).
Aakarshi Kashyap, ranked 32nd in the world and the winner of the Bangladesh International Challenge in December, will compete alongside PV Sindhu in the women’s singles. At CWG 2022, she also advanced to the quarterfinals.
The second participant in the biannual competition’s men’s singles is world No. 10 Lakshya Sen. The spectacular 2022 of the 21-year-old athlete included him taking home the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
The men’s doubles squad will be led by French Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, with Krishna Prasad G and Vishnuvardhan Goud serving as the second pair.
The top players were chosen directly by the Badminton Association of India (BAI), while trials were held for the remaining members of the squad.
The main women’s doubles team will consist of All-England semifinalists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, while Tanisha Castro and Ishaan Bhatnagar will play in the mixed doubles.
India was unable to go past the group stage in the most recent Asian Mixed Team Championship, which took place in 2019. The COVID-19 outbreak forced the cancellation of the 2021 edition.
In the first competition, which took place in 2017, the Indian badminton team was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
India squad:
Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy
Women’s singles: PV Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap
Men’s doubles: Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy/Chirag Shetty, Krishna Prasad Garga/Vishnuvardhan Goud P
Women’s doubles: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand, Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam
Mixed doubles: Ishaan Bhatnagar/Tanisha Crasto (ANI)