India’s women’s singles challenge will be spearheaded by Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu at the All England badminton championship to be held in UK next month.
Saina will face defending champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the first round while Sindhu is pitted against Denmark's Mette Poulsen.
The Indian team also features the new women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa, who parted ways with long-time friend and partner G. Jwala recently, and N. Sikki Reddy.
The men’s line-up includes former China Open champion Kidambi Srikanth, H.S. Prannoy, 2016 Hong Kong Open finalist Sameer Verma, Pranaav Jeery Chopra, regular doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth ReddyO.
P. Kashyap and Sai Praneeth, who are recovering from shoulder injuries, haven't been named in the squad.
Former Andhra cricket captain and the current vice-president of Telangana Badminton Association, V. Chamundeswaranath, has been named as the Observer of the team. Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand will also travel with the team.
The Indian team will also have physiotherapists C. Kiran, who was part of Sindhu's support team during Rio Olympics, and Johnson.
The team: Men: Kidambi Srikanth, H.S. Prannoy, Sameer Verma, Sourabh Verma, Manu Attri, Sumeeth Reddy, Pranaav Jerry Chopra.
Women: Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa.
Coaches: Pullela Gopichand (chief coach), Mulyo Handoyo, Tan Kim Her, Vimal Kumar and N. Anil Kumar.
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