Selection trials for Thomas & Uber Cup, CWG, Asian Games to be held from April 15

A hundred and twenty players will participate in the trials at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium; coaches, parents and fans will be allowed to watch the trials from the gallery.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: The trials will end on April 20.

The selection trials to pick the Indian teams for the upcoming Thomas & Uber Cup, the Commonwealth Games, and the Asian Games will begin at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium here on Friday.

A hundred and twenty players will participate in the trials, which will go on for six days. Coaches, parents and fans will be allowed to watch the trials from the gallery.

Through the trials, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) will also select a core group of probable players for the 2024 Olympic Games as a group of 60 players will be selected through direct selection and trials. Singles players Lakshya Sen, K. Srikanth, H. S. Prannoy, and P. V. Sindhu, and the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have already been shortlisted for the competitions.

League-cum-round-robin format

The selection trials will be held in a league-cum-round-robin format to decide the positions. The seedings in the trials draw will be decided on the basis of international rankings followed by national rankings while combined individual ranking points given by BWF will be considered in doubles.

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In men’s singles, 25 players will be divided into eight groups. The top two players from each group will progress to the second stage where they will be divided into four groups. The winner of each group will play for the top four positions in a round-robin format. Runners-up from each group will fight for 5-8 positions while third-placed players will aim for 9-12 positions.

In the women’s singles trials, 19 players will be divided into six groups, five of three players each and one with four. Similar to the men’s singles format, the top two players will progress into the second stage and then four groups will be formed as they will fight for positions from 1-12 in a round-robin format.

“We want to give each and every player enough chances to prove their abilities and this is the best possible format that BAI and the selection committee together came up with,” said Sanjay Mishra, general secretary of BAI.

The Thomas & Uber Cup is scheduled to be held in Bangkok from May 8 to 15, the Commonwealth Games will be held in Birmingham from July 28, while the Asian Games be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 10.