No Saina Nehwal, 14-year-old Unnati Hooda finds place in India’s Asian Games, CWG badminton squads

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Thursday introduced India’s squads for main competitions in 2022, together with the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the Thomas and Uber Cup.

As anticipated, reigning Commonwealth Games gold medalist Saina Nehwal didn’t make the lower however teen sensation Unnati Hooda, 14, was named within the squad for Asian Games.

The squads for the key occasions have been introduced after a 6-day choice trial in New Delhi. Hooda grew to become the youngest Indian badminton participant within the Asian Games squad.

Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will spearhead the ladies’s problem in each the Commonwealth and Asian Games whereas London Olympics bronze winner Saina Nehwal didn’t expectedly characteristic within the squads.

World Championships medallists Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth will lead India’s medal quest amongst males within the Birmingham CWG (July 28 to August 8) and Asian Games (September 10-25 ) in Hangzhou, China.

Apart from the squads for the three main tournaments that are to be held this 12 months, the BAI additionally finalised the names of 40 gamers (20 males and 20 ladies) for the senior nationwide teaching camp and core group for the 2024 Olympic Games, primarily based on gamers’ positions in trials.

For the Commonwealth Games, the lads’s workforce consists of Sen, Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and B Sumeeth Reddy whereas Sindhu will lead the ladies’s squad which has Aakarshi Kashyap, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri P and Ashwini Ponappa.

Sumeet Reddy and Ponappa made the lower within the males’s and girls’s squads respectively for the Commonwealth Games after their top-place end within the blended doubles class.

Presenting the Indian squad for the #CWG2022, #AsianGames2022 and #TUC2022 after every week lengthy #BAISelectionTrials the place 120 gamers went by a league-based trials ????

All the perfect workforce ??#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/6FKNb16hP5

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) April 21, 2022
HOODA IMPRESSES

Hooda, the teenage sensation from Rohtak, caught the selectors’ eyes as she secured a spot for the Asian Games in addition to Uber Cup by ending third within the ladies’s singles after Kashyap and Ashmita Chaliha, who claimed first and second positions respectively.

A ten-member ladies’s workforce for the Asian Games and Uber Cup will comprise Sindhu, Kashyap, Chaliha, Hooda alongside Top-3 doubles pairs from the trials — Treesa Jolly-Gayatri P, N Sikki Reddy- Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto-Shruti Mishra.

Sindhu, Sen, Srikanth and males’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj and Shetty have been awarded direct entry into the squads for his or her world rankings inside Top-15.

In-form shuttler HS Prannoy has additionally been included as a part of the automated choice for his constant spectacular current type on the worldwide circuit.

Priyanshu Rajawat, who claimed the highest spot within the males’s singles class, additionally made his manner into the 10-man contingent for the Asian Games and Thomas Cup alongside Sen, Srikanth and Prannoy.

The workforce additionally has Satwiksairaj and Shetty and the Top-2 doubles pairs from the trials — Dhruv Kapila-MR Arjun and Vishnu Vardhan Goud-Krishna Prasad Gariga.World No. 23 Saina Nehwal had chosen to keep away from the trials after questioning the choice of the nationwide selectors to maintain her out however retain males’s World No. 23 H S Prannoy within the nationwide workforce.

INDIA SQUADS

Commonwealth Games: Men: Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and B Sumeeth Reddy.

Women: PV Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri P, Ashwini Ponappa.

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Asian Games, Thomas & Uber Cup: Men: Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Dhruv Kapila, MR Arjun, Vishnu Vardhan Goud, Krishna Prasad Gariga.

Women: PV Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap, Ashmita Chaliha, Unnati Hooda, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri P, N Sikki Reddy, Ashwini Ponappa, Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra. (With PTI Inputs)