Two-time Commonwealth Games champion Saina Nehwal has been included in the selection trials for the Asian Mixed Team Championships to be held in Dubai from February 14 to 19. The Senior Selection Committee of the Badminton Association of India held a virtual meeting on 25th December to shortlist the players who appeared in the trials to select the team for the Asian Championships. The committee decided to give direct entry to singles players Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu and men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on the basis of world rankings.
The rest of the 14-member squad will be selected from the selection trials to be held on January 2 and 3 in New Delhi. In women’s singles, apart from Saina, Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap have been called for trials, while in men’s doubles, MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila, Krishna Prasad Garg-Vishnuvardhan Goud P and Ishaan Bhatnagar-Sai Pathek have been named.
For the two spots in women’s doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri P Gopichand, Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, Ashwini Bhatt and Shikha Gautam and Harita Manjhil and Aashna Roy have been selected for the trials. A team will be selected in mixed doubles for which Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Devangan and Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy have been called for trials.
