BAI announces 20-member squad for Dutch and German Junior

Manipur’s Maisnam Meiraba Luwang will be leading 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.

Gayatri Gopichand has been included in the girls' singles squad.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Wednesday named a 20-member junior Indian squad for the upcoming Dutch International and German Junior.

Manipur’s Maisnam Meiraba Luwang will be leading 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 will be spearheaded by the 2017 U-15 Asian Junior Championships gold medallist Samiya Imad Farooqui who logged in 1125 points in the ranking tournaments.

BAI considered the cumulative ranking points from the three All India Junior Ranking tournaments held in Vijayawada, Bangalore and Jaipur in the month of 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 semifinals (350), quarterfinals (275) and pre-quarterfinals (192).

READ: Frost impressed with Saina and Sindhu

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 Navaneeth Bokka and Sahithi Bandi, who swept the three ranking events, will be India’s top team in mixed doubles.

The prestigious Dutch Junior International and the German Junior will be held from February 27 to March 3 and March 7-10 respectively.

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: BS: Maisnam Meiraba (AAI), Sai Charan Koya (AP), Priyanshu Rajawat (MP), Sathish Kumar K (TN) GS: Samiya Imad Farooqui (TS), Gayatri Gopichand Pullela (TS), Smit Toshniwal (MAH), Amolika Singh (UP) BD: Ishaan Bhatnagar (CG), Edwin Joy (KER), Navaneeth Bokka (TS), Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala (TS) GD: Treesa Jolly (KER), Varshini VS (TN), Kavya Gupta (DLI), Khushi Gupta (DLI) XD: Navaneeth Bokka (TS), Sahithi Bandi (TS), Edwin Joy (KER), Nafeesah Sara Siraj (KER).