Thomas And Uber Cup Finals: Saina Nehwal and Sai Praneeth To Lead India’s Challenge
Star shuttlers Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth will lead the Indian women’s and men’s teams in the Thomas Cup and Uber finals.
Star Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth will lead the women and men’s teams in the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, scheduled in Denmark from October 9-17. Badminton Association of India also on Sunday named a 12-member Indian team for the Sudirman Cup, which is slated to take place from September 26 to October 3 in Finland. For the Thomas and Uber Cup, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina will be accompanied by the top-three singles ranks from the trials – Malvika Bansod, Aditi Bhatt, and Tasnim Mir – in the 10-member women’s team. Three doubles pairs include Tanisha Crasto and Rutuparna Panda, who claimed the top spot in the trials.
The 10-member men’s team is also comprised of four singles players and three doubles pairs.
Alongside Praneeth and the former world number one Kidambi Srikanth, top two singles players from the trials – Kiran George and Sameer Verma – have secured spots in the team.
The country’s top men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have been selected in the team alongside top-two ranked pairs from the trials.
The players, for the Thomas and Uber Cup and the Sudirman Cup, were selected on the basis of their performances in the recently-concluded trials apart from the automatic selections of the players and pairs, who are placed inside the top 20 in the world rankings.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu was not included in the squad as she had requested BAI to not consider her for the selections citing post-Olympics recovery.
In the Thomas Cup, the Indian team has been placed in Group C alongside the defending champions China with Netherlands and Tahiti being the other two teams.
The women’s team has been drawn in Group B along with Thailand, Spain, and Scotland in the Uber Cup.
On the other hand, in the 12-member team for the Sudirman Cup, the top-ranked doubles pair from the trials Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun have been named in the squad alongside Srikanth, Praneeth, and doubles pair of Satwiksairaj and Chirag.
Among the women, top two doubles pairs from the trials, Tanisha-Rutuparna and Ashwini Ponnappa-N Sikki Reddy have been selected alongside top two singles players from the trials, Bansod and Bhatt.
The biennial tournament will see the Indian team competing along with the defending champions China, Thailand and hosts Finland in Group A.
