India’s champion shuttler K. Srikanth says that his next big target is to win the senior National badminton title. This is a gentle reminder of the likely star presence — thanks to BAI president Himanta Biswa Sarma’s inititaive — in the 82nd edition commencing here on Thursday.
The likes of Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu , H.S. Prannoy and P. Kashyap in singles, along with doubles specialists Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy, are expected to be in action.
The BAI chief has ensured that these ‘icons’ get a direct entry into the pre-quarterfinals and most of them will be here after the ‘Legends Vision’ programme in Mumbai on November 4. This edition is also offering the biggest prize-money ever in a Nationals — about ₹60 lakh with the singles champions getting ₹2 lakh each.
The championship begins with the team event featuring zonal winners, Institutional winners and host Maharashtra. Petroleum Sports Promotion Board is the defending champion and Airports Authority of India the runner-up.
In individual events, Sourabh Varma and Rituparna Das will defend their titles in the men’s and women’s sections respectively.
K. Ch. Punnaiah Choudhary, BAI secretary (events), celebrating a half-century of being associated with the senior Nationals , says that all the ‘icons’ have confirmed participation though there is always a scope for any last-minute changes.
The other interesting aspect is that World Championship and Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V. Sindhu is likely to represent Andhra Pradesh for the first time in the Nationals, having taken charge as Krishna District Deputy Collector recently.
And, there is also the possibility of a Saina-Sindhu summit clash here!