Badminton Asia Team Championships: Lakshya Sen, Malvika Bansod to lead Indian challenge
India will be fielding new-look teams, sans experienced campaigners like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, in Malaysia.
Lakshya Sen and Malvika Bansod will spearhead India’s men’s and women’s campaigns, respectively, at the Badminton Asia Team Championships 2022 in Shah Alam, Malaysia from February 15 to 20.
The world No. 13 Lakshya Sen made the cut for the continental meet directly by virtue of being in the top-25 of the BWF singles rankings.
Lakshya Sen has been in sensational form of late. The 20-year-old won a bronze medal at the world championships in December and followed it up with the India Open title earlier this month, after beating reigning world champion Kean Yew Loh in the final.
The Indian youngster sat out the Syed Modi International and Odisha Open and will be fresh going into the continental meet in Malaysia.
Syed Modi finalist Malvika Bansod and other players of the Indian contingent were selected on the basis of aggregate ranking points scored in the two all India senior ranking tournaments held in December.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) decided to name a new-look team for the upcoming tournament, leaving out senior players like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and others.
“With most senior players recovering from COVID and injury, it is a good opportunity for us to give the bench strength opportunities to make their mark in the tournament,” BAI secretary Ajay Singhania explained.
The men’s team had won the bronze medal in the last edition (in 2020) of the tournament in Manila, the Philippines after losing to eventual champions Indonesia.
The women’s team had withdrawn from the 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was called off last year.
Japan are the defending champions in the women's category.
Indian squads for Badminton Asia Team Championships 2022
Men’s team
Singles: Lakshya Sen, Mithun Manjunath, Kiran George, Raghu M
Doubles: PS Ravi Krishna/Sankar Prasad Udayakumar, Amsakarunan Hariharan/Ruban Kumar, Dingku Singh Konthoujam/Manjit Singh Khwairakpam
Women’s team
Singles: Malvika Bansod, Aakarshi Kashyap, Ashmita Chaliha, Tara Shah
Doubles: Simran Singhi/Khushi Gupta, Nila Valluvan/Arul Bala Radhakrishnan, Aarthi Sara Sunil/Riza Mahreen