World No. 24 H.S. Prannoy will lead a 13-member Indian badminton team at the Tong Yun Kai Cup 2019, the second edition of the badminton Asia mixed team championships to be held at Hong Kong from March 19-24.
In the absence of top shuttlers Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and K. Srikanth, all of whom have been rested, Prannoy has been entrusted with the responsibility to lead a young Indian team.
Assam’s wonderkid Ashmita Chaliha is among the seven young shuttlers in the women’s squad chosen by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) to provide more exposure to talented youngsters.
The 19-year-old prodigy from Assam already has a couple of BWF titles under her name and reached the semifinals of the Nationals this year.
She will be supported by Nagpur shuttler Vaishnavi Bhale, who was in last year’s Uber Cup team. Vaishnavi too proved her credentials by grabbing a bronze medal at the Nationals in Guwahati.
Shikha Gautam and Ashwini K Bhat have also made it to the team by virtue of their fine show at the Nationals, where the duo won the women’s doubles title.
Rutaparna Panda, Arathi Sara Sunil and UK Mithula are the other selected members in the women’s team.
Among men, 2018 Asian Championships bronze medallist Prannoy has the three-time national champion Sourabh Verma for company, in the six-member squad.
World no. 45 pair of MR Arjun and Shlok Ramchandran, who won the silver medal at the Nationals, will be spearheading the Indian challenge in men’s doubles along with Arun George and Sanyam Shukla
Eleven teams have been divided into four groups in this six-day biennial competition.
The India team has been placed in Group B along side Chinese Taipei and Singapore. The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
India reached the quarterfinals in the last edition where they lost narrowly to Thailand.
The squad: Men: H.S. Prannoy, Sourabh Verma, M.R. Arjun, Shlok Ramchandran, Arun George, Sanyam Shukla.
Women: Ashmita Chaliha, Vaishnavi Bhale, Shikha Gautam, Ashwini K Bhat, Rutaparna Panda, Arathi Sara Sunil, U.K. Mithula.