Prannoy and Srikanth to play in Senior National Badminton Championship

Ace shuttlers HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will be the center of attraction at the inter-state, inter-zonal and senior national championships beginning here on Wednesday. Two Olympic medalists PV Sindhu and former world number one Saina Nehwal will not play in the event. The championship, however, will see several other top players, including former World Championships bronze medalist B Sai Praneeth. This competition is being organized after two years due to Kovid-19.

This time its prize money has been increased. The prize money of individual championship will be Rs 40 lakh while the prize money of inter-state-inter-regional championship will be Rs 10 lakh. The team championship will be held on February 22 and 23 while the individual event will be played from February 24. Prannoy and Srikkanth are likely to face stiff competition from defending champion Sourav Verma, his younger brother Sameer and Praneeth. Women’s doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, men’s doubles specialists Chirag Shetty, Dhruv Kapila, Krishna Prasad and Vishnuvardhan Goud will also try their luck in the competition.